Hell Of A Paradise
by CLX-chan
Summary: Paradise par-uh-dahys - noun : heaven, a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness. At least, that's what it's supposed to be. Here, two wolves will find out what they're so called Paradise is really like.
1. Usually

_Clx_ : This is what I think happens when my favorite wolves reach 'Paradise'.

_Amx_ : And it's a one-shot fic… maybe (as in only a few chapters).

_Clx_ : I think I'll keep writing this fanfic just for the drink names. ( You'll understand once you start reading :P )

_Amx_ : Somehow, I'm not surprised in the least. ( You should see some drink names she picked out o.O and I thought _I_ was the twisted one… hehe )

_Clx_ : All the ones I used in this chapter are real by the way, although I have NO idea if they're actually any good. xD

_Amx_ : If any of you out there do, tell us if they are !

* * *

It was a calm night in the city for some reason, well, calm as in less busy and noisy than it usually was. The stars shined brightly in the sky, at least they would have if there was not so much light-pollution. Although, the moon somehow managed to shine some rays of pure light through the thick clouds and into the city life. It was a shame that barely any vegetation could be seen, as asphalt and skyscrapers mostly covered it up. Yes, there where trees here and there, but there were all artificially planted. As for the flowers, whenever one popped through the cracks in the sidewalks someone just stepped on it, not even caring the slightest.

"What a filthy city," the man muttered under his breath to himself.

Not that anyone would have heard him since he was speeding down the highway on his motorcycle, clearly going over the speed limit by a few miles. He was headed to the usual club that he usually went to when he usually felt like it… usually. He groaned. At the usual club, there were also usually shrieking girls that usually got on his nerves when they usually tried to make small talk. There could also be the usual thug that usually tried to pick a fight with him and lost miserably – no usually there because the brute _always_ lost. Not mentioning the usual cops that usually ended up chasing him because of the usual complaints about a fight until he lost them – again, no usual there because he _always _got them of his tail.

His motorcycle slowed down a bit… Maybe he should not go if it usually ended up troublesome. The wheels turned faster. No, he liked trouble for some unknown reason. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush, or maybe the chase, or even the speed and skill he used to outwit the women, the thugs and the police officers… or because it reminded him of something, something in his subconscious that he somehow could never remember no matter what he tried. No matter, he liked trouble and that was enough of a reason for him to be in the middle of it.

His speed decelerated greatly and he came to a stop in front of said _usual_ club. Cameras flashed his way and reporters came up to him, questions rushing out of there mouths. People treated him as a celebrity for some reason he was unaware of. Maybe they were just curious to why he looked so cool, or why he could pull leather off so well. The real reason was probably to ask about why he kept coming back to the club even though he knew the brute and cops would show up, but if it were that, he would not be able to answer, not knowing the true reason himself. If he said because he liked trouble, he would probably end up with more FanGirls. Bad boys were popular in this city… No, in this society.

He sighed once more and took his helmet off, revealing his silvery hair. He made sure to put his sunglasses on, not to block out the sun of course since it set hours ago, but rather the blinding flashes from the cameras. As expected, shrieks were the first thing he heard over everything else, even the thousands of questions the reporters shot at him. Sometimes he wished that he could just keep his helmet on. It was such a good insulator… He stepped onto the carpet that led towards the door and walked right passed the man standing in front of it, nodding to him. It was the usual guy, that usually let him through because he knew that the man knew the club's owner. Maybe that was why he kept going there… for the free drinks and food.

He felt eyes rest upon him as he walked through the crowd and their shouts turned to whispers between themselves. The difference was not great, but his sensitive hearing could tell the slight change. He headed for the bar and sat down on one of the many stools. The barman immediately directed his attention to their favorite customer. Well, his favorite customer actually because the boss never actually got anything out of him. Maybe it is because the man always gave him a generous tip. He doubted that was the reason. He enjoyed having conversations with the man even though he did most of the talking and the other the listening.

"Ah! If it isn't Mister Chick-Magnet!" the barman exclaimed, "Or was it Thug-Magnet, I can never seem to remember."

He laughed at the heavy yellow-eyed glare he got from the man.

"So, what'll you take?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

"Hey, don't blame me for doing my job," he shrugged.

He sighed.

"The usual."

"Well that depends, you have a few _usuals_," he put his hand on his chin with a pensive look on his face, "When you're in a good mood, you usually take a _Bloody_ _Passion_, correct?"

The man nodded.

"When you're feeling lucky it's a _Four_ _Leaf_ _Clover_. When you are lost in your memories, you can never seem to remember it's a _Full_ _Moon_ _Martini_. When you're proud of your latest escape it's _Wolf's_ _Blood_ and I could go on about your _Mood-Drinks_ but the one you want tonight…"

Yellow eyes looked at him expectantly.

"You look as if you're annoyed of being observed so I'll have to go with… _Eye_ _Opener_?"

The shadow of a smile appeared on the man's lips and the barman grinned widely.

"You're good," he acknowledged.

His grin grew.

"One _Eye_ _Opener_ comin' right up!"

The barman walked away and the man instantly felt arms wrap around his neck, and more than one pair at that. He instantly pushed away the personal-space-invaders sharply. He hated it when people touched him.

"Where've you been darling?" a supposed to be seductive voice squeaked, "We've been looking all over for you~!"

_Lucky me_, he thought with heavy sarcasm.

"I'm not your darling and do not _touch _me," he spat, "What do you want Lea?"

"Is that really a question I need to answer?"

Her fingers trail up and down his chest. He gave her a warning frown and he could have sworn that he felt his lip twitching

"I can answer that question _fairly_ well if you need me too," the second one named Rebecca announced.

Her whole hand brushed his leg, moving toward his thigh and even higher. He slapped her hand away before she could go any further. He surprised himself that he had tolerated it that long.

"DO – NOT – TOUCH – ME. Do I need to spell it out for you?"­

_Not that her small brain _could_ spell it out even if I did_, he chuckled inwardly.

"You're so mean darling!" she whined.

If they could, the man was sure that his eardrums would jump out of his ears and strangle the daylights out of her for making such a high-pitched sound.

"Here's your Eye Opener," the barman announced.

"I know a way to open your eyes, Hun."

Rebecca had such cheesy lines it was unbelievable. Lea grabbed her friend's arm and gently pulled her away.

"We'll be waiting for you, darling."

With that, they left him alone. He turned towards the bar and dry-assed his drink. His fist banged the counter and his head followed.

"Another round?"

The man nodded and the barman gave him another. Like the first, gulped it all down in one shot then his head found its rightful place on the cold marble.

"Kill me now," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I don't serve that kind of drink here, my dear Tsume."

That earned him a glare but he only laughed it off. Tsume felt like it was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

"Damn that Tsume to hell!" the thug groaned, clutching his pained side, "Since when is he so strong?!"

"Um, I think he's always been like that sir."

"Shut up! I didn't ask for your opinion now did I?!"

The small man winced at his tone. Soon after, they saw people running out of the club, cell phones in hand. They were probably going to call the cops. The brute grunted under his breath.

"You'd think those stupid law enforcers would've learned by now to just wait at the club for the fight to start and take him in instead of coming late and losing him every single time."

He sighed, but regretted it as it caused him great pain.

"Well whatever, it's not my problem. I need something to distract me…"

As if on cue, a cute girl came running in his direction and before she passed him, he grabbed her arm quite violently.

"I guess you will do," he said sadistically.

* * *

It was still light outside, and the sun was just starting to set in the horizon, well at least that is what it would have looked like if the many buildings were not blocking the view. The only time you could ever see it was when it was noon, when it was at its highest and even then, it is not always visible. Lately, the weather was odd to say the least. Mother Nature never seemed to make up her mind anymore. In the morning, it would be sunny and the next thing you know when you step outside it is pouring cats and dogs. Fortunately, for the boy, right now, it was clear, but a strong wind was blowing, bringing along dark clouds, quickly approaching the city.

The boy quickened his pace, seeing that there was barely any light left and some streets lamps were already turning on. He hated walking around at night, especially when he was alone. He just did not trust the people in this city. All the crimes that were committed at this time of the day were countless. He would usually turn on the news the next morning and there would usually be another missing person, a bank robbery, or even a murder. The boy shivered at the last one and it only made it worse when a few men whistled his way. The sun was completely gone now and all the restaurant signs lit up.

"Oh no!" he thought aloud, "Why does this kind of thing always happen to me? If only my teacher hadn't kept me after class so long I wouldn't have to walk in the dark."

Well, it was sort of his fault for skipping class the other day. No, he did not skip class he would never do that. He caught a horrible cold and barely had enough energy to move around so walking thirty blocks to get to school was out of the question. Nevertheless, no matter how many times he told the teacher, he replied that it was the same as skipping school. Those were the only times that the boy actually felt relatively angry with someone. He was and acing student and was never absent to any class unless he was sick, the least the teacher could do was make one exception for once.

A loud rumble could be heard in the distance and the boy noticed that he could no longer see the sky. The storm was approaching the city and fast. No matter, the boy would be home anytime now; just a few more blocks and he could go to bed under his warm blankets. Although, he probably would not be able to fall asleep right away, or at all for that matter, since his apartment was right beside a club that stayed open 24/7. The worst part for him though was that he had to pass in front of it no matter where he was headed. Everything was downtown and it just so happened, that it was on the other side of the club.

No, that was not such a big problem anymore. It's not like he was afraid and intimidated by it or anything, it was more the people that went there that gave him the chills. Every single time, someone, male or female, would hit on him and let's just say that those weren't the kind of people he wanted to get involved with. The boy was well known by everyone in there, from the manager to the newcomers, but he never set foot in there! The fact that it was the city's most popular club probably did not help his case. For all he knew, the whole state might know who he is. The only person he was aware of that never flirted with him or even look his way was the _celebrity_.

The boy only knew the man by reputation and name. He himself had never seen him but he sure was curious to set his eyes on him in person to see if all the rumors were true. The girl's always said that he wore leather and that because his jacket was too small for him, instead of buying a new one, that he ripped the shoulder seams to reveal his well built arms and shoulders. The thing that they gossiped about the most though was that his stomach was showing and that he had a white scar on his tanned chest. As for the men, they always complained that all the women were all over him even though he didn't have the slightest interest in them. Even so, they did not even dare to give him a piece of their mind if they valued their life because he was a kick-ass fighter. The boy jumped when he heard something move behind him and shivered when he did not see anything. He kept on walking, and then heard the sound again, but this time when he turned around, he saw a cat: he _hated_ cats. He backed up a little, but the cat just followed him. He gulped as he kept on going even though the feline kept on walking towards him. To his luck, there was a crack in the sidewalk and he tripped, bringing him to the same level as the cat. It crept closer in a malicious kind of way as if it could feel his fear.

"Meow!"

"AHHH!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, turning around and running without a second thought.

He felt pathetic to be scared of such a small and harmless animal, but he couldn't help it, he just hated them. He once saw a fortune-teller and she told him that he had been attacked by on of them in a past life. The boy did not believe in those kind of things, but it sure would explain a lot. Maybe a past life was also the reason he was so good with dogs and most people… He suddenly felt something, or rather someone grab his arm firmly, pulling him to a brutal halt. _That's going to hurt tomorrow…_

"I guess you'll do."

"EH?!" the boy shouted, "What do you mean by that?!"

"You know fairly well what I mean, pretty girl."

He faintly blushed. _Why do people always think I'm a girl?_ He knew the reason, but it annoyed him nonetheless.

"I… I'm not—"

"That kind of girl?" he interrupted with a malicious grin, "You will be when I'm done with you."

"EH!? NO! I mean YES! I mean… ARGH! I MEAN I'M NOT—"

"Going to do as I say? I highly doubt that sweet thing."

The boy groaned. Why were some men so stupid?

"Let me go!"

"I don't think so," he whispered in a creepy supposed-to-be-seductive voice as he pulled the boy towards him.

He tried to fight him off, but, let's face it, there was no point. The man was at least twice his size. The boy felt like a mouse compared to him.

"Don't struggle so much. I'll be gentle."

The boy shivered at his disgusting tone. For some reason he _very_ highly doubted what he said last. Just the grip that held onto his arm betrayed his words. He kept on trying to get away from the man and his efforts ended being as useless as the previous ones. He had to use his last resort… The boy mustered all his remaining strength and brought the man's arm to his mouth, immediately sinking his teeth into the flesh. He made a mental note to make sure to spit the dirt and sweat out after. The thug let out a loud cry of pain and pushed the boy away, making him stumble backwards and trip over one of the many cracks in the pavement.

"Damn it!" his arm was bleeding furiously, "You fucking bitch! You'll get what you deserve!"

The man pulled a gun out of his jacket and pointed it directly in the middle of the boy's forehead. Said boy froze when he saw the weapon as his eyes shot wide open. He was not expecting that alternative. Although, he should have. With all the crimes happening, it should not have surprised him so much. The man's finger lay on the trigger and the boy could tell that he was intent on pulling it. _Move… move… move… MOVE!_ He cried internally, but his body was paralyzed with fear. Feeling the back of his eyes sting, he closed them tightly, lowering his head. The next thing the boy heard was the click that meant the trigger had been pulled, the sound of the bullet racing out of the canon and the screams of various people. The odd thing though, was that he fine. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was completely unharmed. He sighed in relief.

"Then where did the bullet go?" he thought aloud.

"Not in your head, that's for sure," a low, seductive voice murmured.

* * *

_Clx_ : Hmph… *pouts in a corner*

_Amx_ : What ?

_Clx_ : I'm unsatisfied. *pouts some more*

_Amx_ : … Because ?

_Clx_ : I find the chapter… _dry_.

_Amx_ : It's the first one.

_Clx_ : It's supposed to be eye-catching.

_Amx_ : There's supposed to be more in the chapter.

_Clx_ : Yes… but if I didn't cut some…

_Amx_ : The chapter would've never gone up.

_Clx_ : Precisely.

_Both_ : *sigh* Review please.


	2. Slumber

_Clx_ : Wow, this _has_ to be a new record. Updating in less than a week and all.

_Amx_ : Yeah, well the chapters aren't as long as your Zelda fic.

_Clx_ : True.

_Amx_ : And for this one, most of it is already written.

_Clx_ : But on paper…

_Amx_ : True… -_-'

_Clx_ : Thank you to Hanna, HowlingRunt, lovelessotaku03 and Hiskubus for your wonderful reviews ! And lovelessotaku03 and Hiskubus for the favs ! (L) AND Hiskubus (again xD), Mirsa and Panguins-in-American-Oh-my for the story alerts ! :3

That startled the boy; it was definitely not the brute's voice. Not that he was complaining. For all he cared that horrid voice could disappear for ever. His amber eyes looked up, instantly meeting golden ones.

A tall, tanned man stood in front of him, one hand in his pocket and the opposite arm hanging to the side, a rounded knife-like blade in hand. The boy recognized him right away: the leather clothing and scar gave it away.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

His cheeks tinted a faint pink and he wished that the man did not notice. A wide grin made its way across his face. Yes, he saw it.

"I, um… You're Tsume, aren't you?"

"Hn, that popular, eh?"

The boy looked at him questioningly, examining him. "Why did you… save me?"

"What kind of a question is that? You looked like you needed saving, so I stepped in. I could fix that if you want." He said a little _too _seriously to the boy's liking, lifting his weapon up.

The brunette shook his head furiously. "No! It's just… you don't even know me and…" He smiled. "Thanks."

Tsume rolled his eyes. "It's natural survival instinct. I couldn't just let some helpless kid die like that—"

"I'm not a kid," the boy interrupted with a pout.

Tsume chuckled. "Yes, you are. Besides, I couldn't let that _idiot_ commit another murder."

"Who's the idiot now… Tsume?"

The boy shrieked when his eyes lowered to the brute lying on the ground. He was so amazed by the fact that it was _the_ Tsume who saved him that the other disgusting man completely slipped his mind. He looked the man up again in horror: there was a deep gash along his chest and whole left arm. _When did Tsume have time to do that?_

As the boy was lost in thought, he suddenly felt pulled up from the ground so fast that it made him feel nauseated and soon after he heard another gunshot. The brunette just noticed that the thug still had his gun in hand and although his wounds prevented him from aiming properly, the boy would have a bullet through his head at the moment if Tsume had not saved him, _again_.

Tsume's touch was warm even through his jacket's thick fabric. The boy knew that this was the first time meeting the man, but there was this feeling, or rather this sensation in his stomach that made him think otherwise. He felt like he _should_ remember Tsume from somewhere, but that he's just simply forgotten him or something.

Maybe there was an accident that affected his long-term memory. No, because Tsume would be acting differently. Unless he was pretending to not know him so that the boy would not feel sad, or maybe he was in the accident as well…

"Tsume, I—"

"Let's go, kid!" he interrupted. Before the boy could argue, Tsume ran out of the alleyway, grabbing his hand to be certain that he would follow. The boy saw many people starting to walk up to them as soon as they turned onto the sidewalk.

"_Move!_" Tsume shouted at the top of his lungs. Many looks that were not already gazing at them diverted towards the noise, but they all ignored him. Tsume grunted with frustration and pushed them out of their way. Did they not hear the shooting? The boy could have sworn that dangerously venemous glares shot his way, full of jelousy, but he convinced himself that it was just his imagination.

Tsume stopped running and let go of his hand. If they had been running any faster, the boy would have run right into him. His amber eyes looked at him in wonder as he was handed a motorcycle helmet.

"What—"

"Put it on." That sentence was clearly an order.

"Why? I live just around the corner—" Another deafening gunshot pierced their eardrums and Tsume pulled him out of the way of another projectile. The thug had somehow managed to stand up despite his wounds and limp out of the alley just enough to see them and take another shot.

"Put it on," Tsume repeated, pushing the helmet into the boy's hands and the latter put it on with not even the slightest hint of hesitation.

"But what about you?" His voice was full of concern, which surprised Tsume since they had just met.

"I'll be fine."

Sirens could now be heard in the distance. _Took them long enough._ The brute tried to lift his gun up once more and the remaining people that were crazy enough to stay outside in the middle of a battlefield ducked in fear, screaming their lungs out. He fired and the boy jumped onto the motorcycle, clinging to Tsume. Said man barely gave him enough time to put his arms around him and sped off, causing the boy to tighten his grip. He would have slowed down if they were not in danger, but they had to get out of the city as soon as possible. The cops would be looking for them, although it was obviously for different reasons.

The boy had closed his eyes. Saying that he was scarred was an understatement. For some unknown reason, though, Tsume's presence was somehow comforting even though they just met… or at least he thought he did. There was something about him that made him feel like he was the most trustworthy person in this rotten world.

Suddenly, the boy felt something wet. He dared to open his eyes and glance upwards. Though it was only for a brief moment—heck, it was not even a whole second—he was able to see that it had finaly started to rain. A shiver ran down his spine as it started to pour heavier and the wind that whipped his jacket and pants only made him feel even colder.

He felt sorry for Tsume when he remembered what the man was wearing. _He must be freezing with the little clothing he has on._ Well, if he was cold, the boy could not feel it. His body was just as warm as when he first grabbed onto him.

The boy jumped when he suddenlty felt something tap on his—he just noticed—tightly clenched fists that held onto Tsume's jacket. When he opened his eyes, everything was blurry at first since they had been tightly shut for so long. Not that it would have changed much if his sight was crystal clear because it was dark, very dark, another thing he did not like.

His grasp strengthened some more around Tsume's chest, if it was possible. The tanned man reached behind him to take the helmet off the boy's head. "You can let go: we've stopped. No one can hurt you here, you're safe now."

The boy felt his tense body relaxe at Tsume's last words, but he still held onto him. "I know, but… Where are we?"

"At our destination, obviously." Tsume tried to stand up, but the leech that stuck to him kept his body from moving any further than a foot away from the motorcycle. "Come on, kid, let go of me."

No response came, verbally or physicall. "No," he then replied.

"Why not?"

The boy was not going to admit to Tsume that he was afraid. There was no reason to be in the first place since they were miles away from the bar, meaning that the thug was just as far and that there was not going to be anymore gunshots unless Tsume was armed with such a weapon, but he doubted it. And even if he did, there was no need for him to use it… as far as he knew.

There was no one else wherever they were so the only one that Tsume could shoot on was him _if_ he had a gun, but then again, why would he? If he wanted him dead, the logical thing to do was let the brute shoot him earlier. Unless he had some kind of grudge against him and wanted to get rid of him personally?

The boy groaned. His head throbed, he was overthinking again and it probably did not help that he was tired. A low chuckle pulled him from his thoughts. "You're afraid of the dark, aren't you?" Tsume said more as a statement than a question.

"Eh, wh-what? No-No I'm not!" His words came out in a stutter.

"Don't lie to me, kid. You're shaking like a leaf."

A pout made its way to the young man's face. Although he could not see it, the boy just knew that there was a smug grin on Tsume's lips. "There's a light switch over there. Do I need to hold your hand while I turn it on?" His voice dripped in mockery.

"No! I-I'm fine."

"You sure?"

The boy nodded, slowly lessening his grip, allowing Tsume to move away freely. The man stood up and the boy heard him put his hands in his pockets as he walked away.

"Suit yourself then." Tsume did not even make it halfway across the room until he heard a faint sob. "Kid?"

"Wh-What?"

The man could hear the tears in his voice. "You okay?"

"Yeah, as o-okay as e-ever. Haha, s-see?"

_Was that supposed to convince me?_ With a sigh, Tsume turned back towards the boy and put his hand on his shoulder once he reached him. Golden eyes shot wide open when he suddenly felt small arms in a bone breaking clutch. Something wet trickled down his neck and he felt his body shake as the petite one clinging to him did so violently with every sob.

"P-Please, d-don't leave m-me ag-gain, n-not in th-the dark," he cried.

_He's not afraid of the dark, he's terrified by it. This isn't just your everyday phobia. Something must've happened for him to be in such a state._

"P-Please, Ts-Tsume." Tears fell down in cascades over his cheeks.

The man wrapped his arms around the boy's small frame to calm him down somewhat and to his surprise, it worked. He had never had to take care even less comfort someone. The closest he had ever gotten to anyone was when he was ordered to _take care _of them, so this kind of attention was new to him.

When the boy's breathing slowed, Tsume gently put one arm under his legs and lift him up, his small arms still around his neck. "Idiot," he faintly whispered. He felt the boy smile against his neck before he turned on the light. The boy's eyes were still closed, although there was nothing but peace and relaxation on his soft features. "Hey, kid, you can open your eyes now."

The boy did not move and it did not look like he intended to. Tsume then felt both of the boy's arms lessen from around his neck and fall limply onto his lap. A wide smile found it's way to his lips. "It must have been one heck of a day for him."

The man walked up the stairs, the fragile body still in his arms and lay him down on the bed as soon as he reached it. The kid was soaked to the bone, there was no way he could sleep comfortably like that. He left the room momentarily to try and find dry chande of clothes for the boy. He could change later, although the wet leather _was_ starting to become a nuisance. The man hesitantly undid the buttons on the boy's jacket, careful not to wake him.

The first thing that met his eyes shocked him: a gunshot scar. It was obviously not from that night because it was impossible for those kind of wounds—any kind of wounds—to heal that fast and besides, blood would soak his clothes.

"What happened to him?" When his fingers came into contact with the soft, cold skin, he felt a torturing pain in his chest and he shut his eyes to try and suppress, but when he did this last action, he saw the outline of someone. The way the light cut around the figure made it look like it was the kid, but the shadow that was attached to its feet… was that of a wolf's.

The boy turned towards him, his face illuminated with a light which he could not identify the source. "Tsume!" His voice was nothing short of a chant. "Let's go to Paradise together!"

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?"

"Come with me, Tsume! The others are waiting!"

"Others? What others?"

"Don't be silly, Tsume," he giggled. "You know who I'm talking about!" Before the man could retort, the boy turned around and started to walk away, motioning him to follow. "Come on, Tsume!"

"Wait, kid!" he shouted after the boy, stretching his arm out, as if he could catch him, only to find out that it was no longer an arm, but a paw. Not just his arm had transformed, his whole body was now covered with grey fur.

The boy was now out of sight and that did nothing but worry Tsume, causing him to sprint in the direction he saw him last. The sight before him when he reached the top of the snowhill horrified him to his very core. A gunshot echoed through the air, bouncing franticaly in his ears, and the boy flew into the air merely to hit to ground with a sickening crack.

"_KID!!_" Tsume shouted at the top of his lungs. His legs—all four of them—carried him across the snow at an incredible speed. Why was he so worried? Why did he care so much? He did not know and knew that no one else could tell him why, but he did know that he wanted, _needed_ to know if the boy was alright.

Just as he was about to reach him, mere inches away from touching his inert form, his head became heavy and he closed his eyes again as he felt the same unbearable pain in his chest as before. Something told him that he should open his eyes, that the boy would not be dead, that he would be in his former body again, but he did not want to, by _fear_—an emotion he practically never showed—of seeing something gut wrenchin again.

"Tsume?" he heard a soft voice ask. "Are you alright?"

The man jumped as he felt a small hand place itself on his shouder. "Don't touch me!!" he barked, pushing the hand off him, his eyes still firmly shut.

"What's wrond, Tsume? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what's troubling you, trust me. It's not healthy to bear something alone."

"Look who's talking!" At this time, his eyes were opened, locket into big amber ones. "_You_'re the one who kept it from me that you were shot at some time during your life! That scar of yours was _kind of _a giveaway! No wonder you were so scarred! Did you honestly think that I would not notice sooner or later?!" _Sooner or later? What did I mean by that? What do I intend…?_

"Shot? Scar? What are you talking about, Tsume?"

Tsume opened his eyes in disbelief. "The scar on your chest! It's obviously from a gunshot wound!"

"This?" The boy posed as he touched the spot Tsume had mentioned. "It's a birthmark."

"Don't lie to me, kid!"

"Why would I lie to you, Tsume?" The hint of hurt in his tone was more than evident. "I'm not that kind of person."

"For all I know what you just said was a lie."

The boy gave him a sad smile. "You… You've been lied to a lot, haven't you?"

Tsume flinched at his words and averted his gaze to the window, staring at the stars that were finaly visible since the city was far from them and all the pollution that came with it. Tsume hated talking about his past. There was not much that he remembered about it, but what he could manage to, he would rather not and even less let anyone else know about it.

He jumped again as he felt small arms wrap around his neck and a body pressed against his for the second time this night. "Didn't I tell you not to touch—"

"I don't care," the boy murmured into the crook of his neck. "Don't push me away. We both need this." That last part was said with a teary voice.

Tsume did not like physical contact with other people that much—earlier that night had been an exception judging the circumstances—but he sighed in defeat, wrapping his arms around the boy in return. "Damn you're a pushy brat."

The boy's body shook with a faint chuckle. "I never lied to you, Tsume, and I never will," he stated matter-of-factly.

"How can you say that you never _lied_ to me? We just met." No answer came. "Hey, kid, you listening?" The only thing he heard was a deep breath and he chuckled with irony. "You were asleep the whole time, weren't you?"

_Clx_ : Kyaaa ! So kawaiii ! x3

_Amx_ : Yes, there was some fluffy-ness, get over it.

Clx : *glares* Don't you think it's sad that they don't remember each other?

Amx : Mhmm, sure, whatever.

Clx : *twitches* Can you at least _seam remotely_ interrested in what I'm saying ?!

Amx : Mhmm, sure, wha… wait what ?"

Clx : *goes on a rampage* ARRRRRRGAGAGAH!

Amx : *sighs* Now, where did I put the sedative ?


	3. Time

_Clx_ : Ugh... *swears under her breath* ARGH !!! *swears some more and hides under covers*

_Tsume_ : What's gotten into her ?

_Toboe_ : Is she feeling well ?

_Amx_ : Don't mind her, she's just sulking because we only have 3 days of v-cay left and she didn't do her homework and she hasn't prepared her oral presentation.

_Clx_ : I'm going to sue stinking NINTENDO ! *a rain cloud appears above her head*

_Tsume_ : Because ?

_Amx_ : We got a Wii and 7 games for Xmas, nuff said.

_Everyone (except for clx who is still sulking in a corner*_ : P.S. MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS !

* * *

The boy's eyelids fluttered open, closing almost as they had when they were blinded by the blazing sun. He dreamt during the night. It was peaceful, there were two wolves running towards each other, chasing one another and simply laying together, enjoying the other's company.

He had been the small brown wolf and he guessed that the grey one was Tsume because of its piercing golden eyes and its scar, but those were not the only two reasons that is who he guessed the other one was: it had transformed into the man several times throughout his dream.

_Dreams can be really odd sometimes, can't they?_ He thought as he pulled his pillow closer… his warm, firm pillow. The boy's eyes shot wide open, this time ignoring the blinding sunlight. His _pillow_ had… a pulse that he could hear quite well and was… breathing, each time sending shivers down the boy's spine. Not to mention the _things_ that were wrapped around his body, which he just noticed was _not_ in _his _clothes.

He brought his hands up to whatever was around him and he soon identified it as_ arms_. His hand then slid back down to in front of his face and there was… no fabric, just warm living flesh.

His eyes scanned the room and instantly focused on the wet mass that lay on the floor. He deduced that it was supposed to be his jacket and shirt, as well as pants and boxers. _My boxers?!_

The boy litteraly jumped away from the man, bringing the blankets with him as he did to cover himself up. Tsume rubbed his eyes as he sat up and was surprised to meet shock filled ones. "What's wrong, kid?"

"What's wrong? _What's wrong?!_ What do you mean what's wrong?! I—" He breathed in, deeply, trying to calm himself. "Where… Wh-Where am I?" he then asked in a supposed-to-be-steady voice. If his tone did not betray him enough, his expression compensated.

Tsume quirked a brow at the sudden temper change. This kid gives a whole new meaning to mood swings. "At my place."

"Why?"

"Because it's the safest place I can think of that's safe for the two of us."

"I see…" The boy seemed to relax somewhat, but then he remembered his body's current… _situation_. "What did you do to me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?

"Well, um…" His face flushed a little. "What did you… _do_ to me? As in: why am I in… clothes that aren't mine?"

Tsume looked at him in question. "It's obvious, isn't it?"

The boy's face became beet red and he pulled the blankets around him even tighter. He was wrong to think that Tsume was any different than anyone else from the club.

"I mean, I couldn't just leave you lying like that. And—"

"_Stop!_" His voice chocked, tears filled his tone. "Please, I don't want to hear anymore." He hid his face between his knees and Tsume looked at him in concern. "What're you getting so worked up over?"

"What do you think?"

The boy's thoughts were a mystery to Tsume and he was starting to become irritated. "I don't know! Why do you think I'm asking you—" Something clicked in his head. "Wait a second… what do you _think_ happened last night?" The kid remained silent and Tsume had a bad idea about what his answer was going to be. "Say something, kid. Help me to help you… Kid?"

"… That you took… _advantage_ of me."

The man gawked at him and that only earned him a confused look in return.

"What?"

"You, actually think that I would do such a thing to you?"

"Well, I don't—"

"No, I wouldn't." The statement eased some of the boy's tension. "Why would you think something like that in the first place?"

"There's quite a few things actually. One: I'm half naked."

"You were going to get sick if I left you in those soaked clothes of yours."

"Two: _You_'re just as half-naked as I am."

"You wouldn't let me put anything else but the boxers on you and it was freezing last night. You would've frozen to death, so I gave you my body heat."

"You didn't need to take your jacket and pants off."

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"It's leather and it was wet too."

"…"

"What else?" Tsume smirked.

"Th-Three: I was lying on top of you."

"Thus how you got the body heat."

"… And four: because doing things _like that_ is all what people think about when they see me. So I just assumed that you did _that_ when I saw how we were positioned anf how little clothing we had."

Tsume chuckled. "And you said that _I_ had trust issues."

"When did I—"

"Last night, you were sleep walking, but mostly talking."

The boy froze. "What… What else did I say?" he asked, completely putting the previous subject aside. He wanted to know, but above all needed to know. The stupidest things could come out his mouth when he sleepwalked.

Tsume crossed his arms in a pensive kind of way. He was going to have fun with this. "Let's see… First off, you practically threw yourself into my arms, begging me to sleep with you. Then you kept trying to take my jacket off and running your hands up and down my arms. You seemed quite fond of nipping and licking my neck. I tried to push you off, but you were just so pushy. I mean, I managed to push you away eventually, but it was not easy."

He had absolutely _no_ clue where all those ideas came from, even less why those were the kind of things that came out. Someone told him once that in these kind of cases you thought aloud what was hidden deep in your subconscious, but that could not be the case since they just met for crying out loud!

No response came from the boy and Tsume dared to look at him from the corner of his eye. There were many expressions on his face at the moment, but the ones the most present were shock and embarassement. "I… I-I did that?"

"Well… no."

The boy almost fell off the bed. "Then why did you say that?!"

"Because I can." A low chuckle emanated from Tsume's throat as he felt amber eyes throwing hundreds, even thousands of little daggers in his head. _If looks could kill…_

"Then what did I really say. No tricks."

"Alright, but the thing is, some of it was true, seriously," he added when the boy gave him another glare. "Even though I told you to keep the physical contact to a minimum, you were being excessively persistant, saying something like we both needed it or something." _I never knew one's face could be so red_, he chuckled internally. "Also that you never lied to me and never would, even though we just met last night."

Trying—very unsucessfully—not to laugh at the kid's face, Tsume rolled his eyes as yet another scowl was sent his way. The boy coughed a little to try and clear his throat. "Anwyway… You still haven't answeredmy question."

"You'll need to be more specific, kid. You asked a lot of things since you've woken up."

"Why aren't I in my clothes."

Tsume arched a brow. "Were you not listening for the last ten minutes or something?"

"Yes… I mean, no… wait what's the question?"

"You're still half-asleep, aren't you?"

"Maybe…"  
He sighed. "Fine then, I'll tell you again, but I'll only repeat this once. So listen carefully." The boy nodded. "You were soaked to the bone because of last night's rain and you would have ended up sick if I did not give you a change of clothes. Besides, if I was not one hundred percent sure that you weren't a women, I wouldn't've changed you by myself. I would've woken you up before even thinking of unbottoning your jacket."

"Hold up… You knew I was a boy?"

"Uh, yeah. Was I supposed to think otherwise?"

The boy beamed, a large white-teethed enchanting smile, lessening his grip so much that the blanket gently slid down his shoulders, falling to his sides. "No, it's just that people always see me as a girl because of my appearance."

"What? How could they think that? Your body structure should be enough to prove that you're a boy. Even through your clothes I could tell the difference."

A blush crept its way up to the boy's cheeks. "Maybe you were looking to close then."

Tsume's eyes scanned every inch of the boy's half-naked body. "Maybe…" The man could have sworn that his face turned redder. "That reminds me, I still don't know your name."

"I'm Toboe," he beamed, his eyes lighting up. "Nice to meet you, Tsume."

"Usually introductions are supposed to be made _before_ you sleep together."

Toboe's face paled. "B-But I-I-I-I th-thought y-you s-s-s-s-said th-tha—"

Tsume grined, his lips practically reaching his ears. "I was joking, kid… or was I?" He received a pillow in his face and burst out in a fitful of laughter.

Toboe glared at him like he never glared before. "Maybe, but it wasn't funny, you jerk."

"Yes, it was and you know it."

"No, it wasn't!" He turned his head to the side, crossing his arms, pretending to ignore Tsume. Although the latter believed to see the shadow of a smile in the corner of his lips.

"What was your name again?"

"Toboe."

"Toboe, eh? It feels like I've heard that name somewhere. It even sounds sort of familiar."

"And Tsume sounds familiar to me, but I don't recall ever meeting you anytime before yesterday night."

"Maybe it just seems like we've met because of all the rumours floating around about us."

Toboe gave a cute and enchanting chuckle. "Maybe."

It really annoyed Tsume that the boy did not seem to remember his dream from the previous night. Even though he did not say anything about it, there would still be a slight hint of fear in his eyes that he recalled at least a hint of it.

Tsume was not one to get spooked about something as trivial as a dream, but that particular one—if you could even call that a _dream_—was something else. It could pretty much have been his imagination, but he doubted it. The sensation that crossed his body when he saw it was just… too _real_.

"Hey, kid, do you have the time? I have to be somewhere later."

"Yeah, just a sec, my watch should be in my pocket," he announced overly joyfully as he slide off the bed with an incredible grace—that only a woman should possess, Tsume noted—throwing the covers to the side, clearly not caring anymore that the only clothing that could be seen on his body were boxers that were obviously to big for him, seeing the way they were slowly falling over his hip bones.

His hands rummaged through his pocket, one of them anyway. Really, how many pockets could one pair of pants have, and _need_? Toboe had found the one with the most you could imagine, thus taking him a bit longet than it normaly would to find his watch in a normal pair of jeans.

Cold metal suddenly came into contact with his fingers. "Aha !" he exclaimed as he pulled out a

very expensive looking watch. Tsume eyed the masterpiece before him. It was a 36mm Oyster Perpetual Datjust Rolex made of bronze and at least 18ct of white gold with a black concentric dial in which there was roman numerals. The rim of the dial and the bracelet were set with brilliants. Let's just say that the man was the kind of guy that knew these kind of things, down to the last and smallest detail.

"Where did you get that watch?" he suddenly asked, already knowing the answer, but wondering if the boy knew himself.

"Hm? Oh, my mother gave it to me as a present three years ago when I turned sixteen. From what she said, she had it custom made just for me and that it's one of a kind. Why do you ask?"

"Curious. Anyway, what time is it again?"

Toboe smiled. "I haven't told you yet... It's 10:25 -- OH NO!" The brunette started racing around the room, picking up his clothes and trying to find his bag even though it was right behind him.

"What's wrong?" Tsume asked cooly, watching the boy trip over his own feet in his haste.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble!" Even though the response Toboe gave answered Tsume's question, the latter felt like the boy spoke those words more to himself than him. If not to say that there was a possibility that what he said went completely unheard. "I'm so late!"

Toboe's first class was History. There was no hope in even going to tha last half-hour since it was almost done, but the teacher he had would understand him missing class if he gave a good and clear enough explanation to her. She was such a nice lady and he was her best student, so he could practically get away with anything. Not that he would though because he was not that kind of person. As for his math teacher, the one and only teacher that kept him after class the day before, was unforgiving and had no mercy what so ever. Toboe did _not_ want to be stuck with that horrible man any longer than he was already obliged to. It was bad enough that he had to endure him for more than six hours per week, so spending any more time than necessary with him was unbearable. It was actually hard for him to believe that he survived his detention yesterday...

"Don't sweat it, kid, I'll give you a ride if you want."

Toboe stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Tsume. His eyes glimmering with hope and practically red because he was ready to cry of joy. "Really?"

"Sure, it's the least I can do."

"Thank you so much, Tsume," he beamed his oh-so-famous smile, flashing his pearly white teeth. Tsume noted that his canines were quite pointed.

"Like I said: it's the least I can do. Where do you go?"

"Dawnland High."

"Where?"

"Dawnland High," he repeated. "On Saint-Rose Avenue--"

"I know where it is, it's just that..."

"What?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm eighteen, why?" For some unknown reason, god decided to place a faint blush on his cheeks.

"You look younger than that."

"I get that a lot." The red darkened.

Tsume pretended not to notice, and he could tell that the boy appreciated that. Then his brain started doing the math and it caused him to groan.

"Tsume?"

"Dawnland High is an hour from here," he stated matter-of-factly, watching the brunette's expression slowly become horrified.

"WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, kid, I--"

"Don't worry?! Why wouldn't I--"

"I can get you there in twenty minutes. Just in time for your second class."

_How does he know my schedule?_ He shrugged it off. "How are you going to do that?"

A wide grin spread across Tsume's face, making him gulp. "Guys like me know all the alleys and the back doors in the biggest of cities after only going there once, so imagine when you're there all the time. Besides, I drive fast. So as soon as you're ready, we'll leave."

"Okay, but... what am I supposed to wear? We won't have time to stop at my place to get me a change of clothes."

"I'll lend you some." As he said that, Tsume stood up, walking out of the room with amber eyes following him. The owner of said eyes blushed when they lowered a little too much, immediatly diverting his gaze to the side.

When Tsume returned, he had a navy blue T-shirt and jeans as well as a leather jacket in hand. "These should fit you, if not they'll be a little too big, but it's better than nothing. When you get your own clothes later, you can keep them 'cause I haven't been able to wear these in a long time, so they're of no use to me."

Toboe held his hands out, gently taking the clothes, a smile prensent on his lips as much as his blush. "Thanks, Tsume."

* * *

_Clx_ : I can't wait until the next chapter lol xD

_Amx_ : Tsume is going to confront the devil aka Toboe's teacher.

_Clx_ : It's going to be interresting (at least I hope).

_Amx_ : Speaking of which... We suck at names.

_Clx_ : And too lazy to go check some out.

_Amx_ : So what do you think we should name the teacher?

_Both_ : Please review !

_Amx_ : Alright, let me get something straight people, don't go thinking we're experts with watches and such because we're not.

_Clx_ : We're just very well informed.

_Amx_ : Because we have our sources.

_Clx_ : PS, Dawnland High and Saint-Rose Avenue belong to ME.

_Amx_ : That's pretty much the only things in this fic that do.

_Clx_ : PPS, I just re-read some of my reviews and thought I'd mention that in the last chapter when there was the gunshot and the wolves and the whole vision/dream/nightmare kind of thingy, it was supposed to sort of be a flashback of the moment Toboe died in their passed-life.


	4. Enigmatic

_Clx_ : Yeah ! Another chapter !

_Amx_ : Should we rate it M yet ?

_Clx_ : Why, nothing M-rated has happened yet.

_Amx_ : I know, but there will be eventually.

_Clx_ : True… But nope, not yet ! :D

* * *

**Zetake** : Thanks ! :P

**Desiderium777** : Thanks ! And thanks a lot for the name too. I suck so bad at them lol xD

**Hiskubus** : Well, I've worked really hard on it… so much it hurts my little brain lol xD So if you say it's one of the best… THANK YOU ! *glomps* Lol xD

It should be funny… or maybe it's just because I'm tired… Hmm… Cute maybe. Interesting I hope ! But really suspicious… MWAHAHA ! *cough cough* Lol xD

**(Sorry for not thanking you reviewers for the last chapter… I forgot… T_T)**

* * *

"We're here. You can let me go now, kid."

Toboe was actually clinging to Tsume as if his life depended on it. And the worst part was that in a sad way, it kind of did. The silver-haired man held his promise. They had arrived at the school in twenty minutes. The only way to explain that was because Tsume drove really, really… _really_ fast. That and they took the smallest alleys imaginable, ones that you had to sharply turn at 90 degrees to keep going. At one point during the death ride, Toboe's stomach churned, but he kept his stomach acid down.

Riding on Tsume's motorcycle was scarier than the worst rollercoaster ever built. That was the second time he'd feared for his life—the feeling was obviously not as extreme as the previous night, but it scared him shitless none the less—in the last 24 hours… He was going to develop psychological problems. Consulting someone for help came into mind to prevent that, but he barely had enough money to live on, let alone pay a shrink.

Toboe's eyes slowly trembled open, meeting the many gazes of the students surrounding him. Not a single one of them was _not_ giving him an odd or curious look. He hated being watched. It always made him feel like he was on display. Subconsciously, his arms tightened around Tsume's waist and a bright blush appeared across his cheeks as the latter chuckled. Although no one but him knew about it thanks to the helmet.

He threw his legs in a most graceful manner, landing on the paved driveway. Just as he was about to hand Tsume the helmet, the bell rang… that annoying constant high-pitched ringing that scratched at his eardrums. Every. Single.—insert cuss here—Time. Speaking of time, Toboe looked at his watch and jumped back as he saw the numbers the two little golden arrows pointed at. "Aw, man! That was the last one!" he shouted as he turned around. "Thanks for the ride—"

Tsume's warm hand grabbed his arm. "What's the rush?"

Toboe blinked a few times then wondered if Tsume was dropped on his head at birth or something. He was about to answer when the man interrupted him.

"I know that was the last bell. What I meant is that I'll go with you to explain to your teacher why you're late."

"He won't listen to you, or anyone else actually," he groaned. "He thinks that he's the only one that can ever be right, no matter the topic of conversation."

_We'll see about that…_ "Worst case, if he doesn't listen—which he will—I'll beat some sense into him." As he said that last sentence he cracked his knuckles.

Toboe laughed, nodding for him to follow. As he'd expected, more heads turned their way as they walked through the many halls of the school. _Why did they have to make it so big?_ He tried to ignored them for the most part, but it was hard to when he could hear the annoying buzzing sounds of whispers. And even worse, the feeling of eyes scanning him for multiple reasons. Such as because he was not in his regular clothes—it was obvious to even the dullest of bulbs that they belonged to the man walking beside him at one point—and the fact that a very handsome man that was not a teacher or a student was accompanying him to class.

With a sigh, Toboe raised his hand to knock on his classroom's door, but turne towards Tsume first. "Um, can I ask you for one more favor?" This peeked the others' interrest. Toboe could have sworn thata few inched closer.

"Shoot." Tsume realized his mistake when the boy flinched at his bad choice of words. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just… still sensitive about it I guess." Again, more students crept their way. "Anyway, I was wondering if you stop by my appartement to pick up some stuff for me?"

"I guess," he sighed.

The brunette smiled at him. "Thanks, Tsume, for everything." People started to whisper as they heard that last phrase. _God people have perverted minds these days, _Tsume thought. "Here's my key," Toboe announced as he handed it out to him. "My flat number is 507."

"Alright, do you want my number in case you need another favor?" he mocked. Toboe could not help but smile and roll his eyes at that as he took his cell out. "514-666-5683"

"514-666-5683…" he repeated to himself, mentally chuckling at the irony of the choice of numbers. "Got it! Now say cheese!"

"Why would I—" His voice was interrupted by a faint _click_. When the boy turned his cell around to show him the screen, he saw a picture of himself. He groaned internally. _Great, juuust great…_

"I need my English books and my novel. It's… something moon. And there's a red and white flower on the front page and the rest is al black I think. They should be on my bed. But if not, look for my red sketching booklet, they should be close to it. Oh! And I'll need that too. It might be hard to find them, 'cause my appartement is a bit of a mess."

"I'm sure I'll be able to find it. I'm good at finding the right things." He winked at Toboe and a faint blush crept up to his cheeks that were already a little rosy. "When do you need them for?"

"This afternoon. I'll wait for you by the front gates at quarter to one."

Tsume nodded as Toboe decided that it was time for him to confront Satan, raising his shaking hand to the door, but not knocking. The man noticed this. "Kid, are you alright?" No answer. "Toboe?"

The boy jumped at his name. Something about the way Tsume's voice sounded when he said it was… wow. His blush deepened at his thoughts. "Y-Yes, Tsume?"

"He's that bad, huh?"

"No, it's just that… yeah, he scares me like you wouldn't imagine. I don't know what it is about him, but… It feels like he's sucking out my very soul just by setting his black eyes on me. And when he speaks… God, there's just no human words for it…"

"That bad?" Toboe nodded. "Well then I'l just have to scare him more than he's scared you."

"Good luck with that," he laughed nervously. "I know you can be pretty intimidating… Well, I don't technically know, but from what I've heard people at the club say, you are. But I don't know if—"

"Toboe, that's a promise." His voice resonated once more as he uttered the boy's name, sending shiver down the latter's spine. He smiled. "I'll manage something, don't worry. Just because he's a teacher does not give him the right to scare his students so much."

Toboe could not believe it. His face was going to become a tomato if Tsume did not stop talking like that for crying out loud! Their eyes locked, but Toboe broke the chain that kept them together almost instantly as his cheeks felt almost too warm to bear. "Th-Thanks, Tsume."

Said man smiled as he knocked on the door, because the boy clearly did not intend to. A student's head popped into view as a small crack allowed them to see a little into the classroom. He girl opened it all the as she saw who it was. Tsume could have sworn that she whispered him good luck. That only made him more determined to make the horrible man crack.

He felt strange, a little. His actions were too… _kind_. I mean, he wasn't the most awful person in this city—let alone the whole planet—but he was not usually this considerate. There was just_ something_ about the boy that made him want to protect him. At first, he thought that it was because of the horrible dream he'd seen—if you could even call it that—but he thought so otherwise when he said the boy's name. Another thing he did not know was why he _liked_ saying it so much. There had to be a deeper, more profound reason to explain it.

Shoving his thoughts aside to be dealt with later, he saw the man standing behind a large wooden desk and his eyes slightly opened. A permanent frown, as present as ever, was enhanced by his square glasses. He looked just as sour as ever, Tsume noted. A large grin made its way across his lips. He wished for it to only be internally, but he could not help it. He knew this man, but the man did not know him, and those facts were only going to make easier for Tsume.

Toboe gulped before he walked up to his teacher. He was going to explain everything as best as he could, but he was immediately cut off by an acidic voice.

"Who's that?" he snarled, glaring at the smirking stranger leaning the doorway of _his_ classroom.

"Th-That's Tsume, M-Mister Rog-gers."

A chuckle came from the door. "Don't let him push you around like that, kid," Tsume interrupted, his tone as serious as the boy had ever heard.

Toboe frowned a little at the man that was now walking towards him, completely forgetting his teacher and the rest of his classmates. His eardrums cried as the girls squealed at the sight of him. And probably even more his smooth voice. "My name's not kid. It's Toboe."

"Pa-ta-to, pah-tah-to," ***1*** he shrugged, his hands in their rightful places in his pockets. His eyes then set upon the man in front of him. "_Mr. Rogers_, eh? So that's what they call you here. Don't you think that sounds a little _old_ for a man in his twenties?"The teacher looked utterly offended that he'd waltzed right into his classroom, without any permission whatsoever. But he did not care in the least. And even more that he had no idea what Tsume was talking about.

"Do you mind?" he spat.

"About what? That you just gave me a shower and that you're a complete ass? Yeah, kind of."

Toboe quicly raised his hand to his mouth to hide his laughter. Although the other students made no effort to do so. No one ever _dared_ to insult that specific teacher if they valued their life, so this was not something you got to see everyday. With one venemous glare from Mr. Rogers, they were silenced them. Tsume's smirk widened at the man's reaction to his insult.

"Get out of my—"

"Look," Tsume interrupted… again. "The way you discipline your students has nothing to do with me, but punishing them for no reason does. Especially if it's this kid."

"Toboe," the boy corrected him again, earning him a deep chuckle that made him shiver in delight.

"I don't know much about this kid, Toboe," he rectfied himself before the boy could say anything. "I only met him yesterday because his life was in danger and I saved him. Horrible things were going to happen if I hadn't interfered so I drove him to my place. I knew he had school today—it was kind of obvious because there's no way he was going to have a day off in the middle of the week—but I let him sleep in for as long as he needed. Because an event like that is exhausting for anyone. Sometimes, even to those who are used to it like me. And though we were an hour away from the school, I managed to get him here in twenty minutes like I promised so that he would not be too late for your _precious_ class." Those words earned him a noxious glare that did not affect him in the least, he even chuckled. _If only he knew who I was…_ "After all I've said, if he receives any kind of punishement for being a few minutes late, I _will_ make a complaint to your boss."

Every single mouth in the room—except for Tsume's and Mr. Rogers of course—hung so wide open that they threatened to dislocate from their joint. As for the eyes, let's just say that they were bigger than frying pans. Toboe was outright shocked that Tsume was actually able to tell off Mr. Rogers.

"You can't do that," the teacher finally said.

"Do what?"

"Complain to my boss."

"Oh. Yes. I. Can. She's a _very_ good _friend_ of mine."

Toboe noticed that his teacher's eyes slightly widened. But it was almost unnoticeable for anyone without keen eyeight like himself.

"The principal is a man."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," he grinned evilly, "But that's no the boss I meant."

This time, Mr. Rogers eyes _did_ completely widen, his glasses sliding off his nose. _How does this man know about…_ Tsume leaned to his ear.

"Tell me, is the fact that you're so rough and tough as a teacher supposed to compensate for the fact that you're extremely whipped and submissive to her?" he whispered, his smile almost audible in his tone.

If possible, Mr. Rogers frown deepened. If he was an animal, he would bear his fangs at this precise moment and rip the man's throat out. He tried to look severe, but Toboe could see in his eyes that he was terrified by whatever Tsume had just told him. "Who are you?"

"Hn, you'll find out soon enough." He stood back up straight, staring the man in the eye. "That enough to convince you, _Mr. Rogers_?"

The latter fought back the urge to punch the man square in the face. But he knew it would be a terrible mistake if the man really knew about _that_ and _her_. He sighed, desperately trying to keep his cool. And it annoyed him that the man noticed the faint shake his voice had as he spoke. "I suppose. Sit down, Toboe. I'll let it pass this time—"

"Just this time?" Tsume smiled.

Mr. Rogers groaned and the man took it as a very reluctant no.

Toboe was amazed to say the least. This day was full of surprises and he'd not even been up for a whole hour yet! He sat in his respectful seat cheerfully as the tanned man waved him goodbye with a smile of his own.

* * *

Tsume was lucky. The thug had not been at the club or anywhere around it, which was understandable for anyone with a brain because of all the police officers._ 'Bout time the feds smartened up._ But he passed unnoticed quite easily using the back alleys. _But they're still not smart enough_.

Toboe's appartement was quite organized compared to what he'd been told. It was something he did not expect for a teenage boy. Then again, Toboe did a lot of things that he did not predict he would. His eyes spotted a little silver box sitting on the bedside table, ornated with a variety of precious gems. _So that's it, huh?_

Like theboy said, his books were on his bed, at least his English ones were. He quickly spotted the _something-moon_ novel sitting on top of the red drawing tablet. His legs carried his muscular body to the table and the title caught his eyes.

"New Moon," he read aloud. Something about the title caught his attention even though he was not one to read much. The flower on the cover only peeked his interrest some more. He picked it up, flipping through the pages and instantly stopped when he saw a word highlighted in yellow. "Werewolf?" His fingers turned to the next page, and the next and the ones after that. Every single word that was highlighted was _werewolf_ or _werewolves_. He pondered on the reason… Maybe it was related to the dream?

He shoved yet another thought aside as he distractely picked the sketch tablet up, dropping it intantly as he received a faint jolt from the metal binding. His body froze at the drawings in them: two wolves; a small brown one and a larger grew one with a scar on its chest. The exact same ones from the dream, nightmare, vision or whatever it was he saw the night before. He gazed at the following page and the ones that came after as he did with the novel. It was always the same thing. Always the same two wolves. Each sketch sent a wave of déjà-vu and nostalgia throughout every fiber of his being.

As the last page came, a small black booklet not bigger than the size of his hand dropped onto the wodden able. He picked it up, reading the first sentence of the elegant script. "_Demons of the past can become angels of the futur_?***2*** What's that supposed to mean?"

Before he could think about it any further, his phone rang and he answered instantly. The only reason people called him was for important means.

"Tsume."

"_Hello, Claw._"

"Oh, hey Dawn."

"_Have you been able to get into his appartement yet?_"

"Yeah, I'm in it as we speak. He gave me the key himself."

"_Heh, what a stupid kid._"

Tsume frowned. "Don't underestimate him. He's smarter than he seems."

"_Whatever. You seen it yet?_"

"Yeah."

"_Did you take it?_"

"No, you moron. I told you I'd only take it after a few weeks or he'll know it was me." _He has enough trust issues as it is._

"_I would not expect anything less from you, Claw. You sure it's the right one? There's known to be many replicas._"

"Of course I'm sure. I can tell fakes from the real thing."

"_What about the delivery?_"

"Same date and time as planned, Dawn. You know I don't like making changes once I've made up my mind."

"_Yes, I know. Well, see you then I guess._"

"Alright." Tsume hung up first, groaning as he felt a headache coming along. _Why do I always get the dirty jobs?_

* * *

***1***** It's an expression I use quite often. It means : Same thing, same difference. More specifically, Tsume's saying that **_**kid**_** and **_**Toboe**_** are synonyms.**

***2* Another thing I like to say often. This proverb can be employed in many different way, but the meaning I give to it is: Demons of the past (as in bad, even horrible experiences) can become angels of the futur (can give you enough wisdom to make sure you do not commit the same actions again, **_**or**_** use them to help others get through their rough times). :)**

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_Amx_ : Mysterious much ?

_Clx_ : Well, that was sort of the point.

_Amx_ : I wonder what Tsume's up to.

_Clx_ : And who is this _Dawn_ person ?

_Amx_ : They'll find out soon enough.

_Clx_ : I guess… Anyway~, this was supposed to be longer, but I think it's about time I go to bed.

_Amx_ : Yeah, especialy since we have an oral presentation to do tomorrow in french class about a stupid play.

_Clx_ : Ugh, don't remind me.

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**Review Please ! The more I get the faster I'll put the chapters up !**


	5. Thunder

**Thank you XxTwisted-Suicide-AngelxX for pointing out that this chapter was previously ( until I changed it ) italicized. *hugs***

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_Clx_ : *takes a deep breath* PleasegoseethevideoImadeaboutTsumeandToboeIpostedonmyYouTubeaccount!'scalledBurningToTheGroundandwhileyou'reatit,checkouthetrailerImadeforWolf'sRainprettyprettyplease!

_Amx_ : … _Yeah~_ What she said.

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**Zetake** : Thanks *hugs*

**Desiderium777** : You should feel loved ! Because I love you for giving me a good name lol. Yes, Tsume is going to use Toboe, but not for the book, for the contents of the little box he spotted at the beginning when he came into his apartment. To tell you the truth, I have no clue what's going to be in it yet xD Lol, it won't be as simple as just falling in love, there's going to be a twist ! *winks* Yay for reviews ! Lol xD

**Lovelessotaku03** : Glad you thought it was funny, my friend ! You should find out who he/she (haven't determined the gendre yet, that you'll find out in the next one :P) is in a few chapters. But I won't say it directly that he/she is Dawn, it's complicated to explain (or maybe I'm just too tired with a sticking cold, ugh…) but you'll see when it comes !

**Hiskubus** : Yay reviews every chapter ! *hugs* I had a fun time writing the Tsume-confronts-Toboe's-teacher part. I kept imagining the stupidest things lol xD. But what I posted was what made the most sense. Tsume coming to my school would be the highlight of my life, especially if he's with Toboe ! ( ok, that may be a tad exaggerated xD ). Yes, Tsume is evil, but in a twisted not-so-evil kind of way… Was that clear ? xD

**Becauseimthefavorite** : Thankies ! *hugs* Yes, he is isn't he? ;P

**SammerX3** : OH NOES ! Don't be mad at Tsume ! He's actually… No, I won't say anything or I'll say EVERYTHING. xD OMG YES ! I love the Twilight saga ! I just finished reading Breaking Dawn ( haha Tsume's breaking Dawn xD… sorry, stupid sense of humour lol xD ) and I'm going to re-read all four books soon !

**Thank you so much to my current and future ( I hope :P ) reviewers, subscribers and… favoriter… ers? Is that even a word lol xD**

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Toboe groaned as he rubbed his temples. Questions after questions after more stinking annoying questions beat furiously against his eardrums. He could not take it anymore. It was driving him mad! Rumours were contaminating the school like the plague. No, even faster than that. More like cooties in a kindergartener's class. And boy did that spread fast. It was inevitable to _not_ hear about Toboe and the mysterious sexy man. Even if you were a teacher.

Most people thought that they slept together and Toboe was good enough to be the Tsume's sex-toy so the latter stuck around to make sure no one else would dare put a finger on_ his_ possession. Well, let's face it, Tsume was not the kind of guy to follow some random kid like him around just for the fun of it. And Toboe had to admit that he knew that and if he did not know the reason as to why he was saved by him, he would most likely tend to think that as well. Even though he hated stupid rumours, now more than ever… Others were convinced of many other things and Toboe was almost certain that he did _not_ want to hear what those despicable twisted-minded teens came up with.

"Toboe, are you up there?" a familiar feminine voice called.

He hesitated. With all the action from these past two days—physically as well as mentally—he would rather stay alone. But he knew that no matter what, his friend would end up finding him sooner or later. "… No?"

The girl laughed as he leaned over the edge of the branch he was laying on to see her climbing the tree with some difficulty, quite obvious that she was not as used to this as he was. Her agility was not even comparable to his. No one in the school's was for that matter. As far as he knew anyway. Toboe was one of the most quiet and sweet kids in the school—and one of the shortest—but everyone knew that they should not judge him from his appearance.

His friend sat down beside him with a heavy huff. "What's with you and high places?"

He shrugged. "I've yet to figure that out, Kiminari."

She gazed at him oddly as he stared off into space, thinking of God knows what.

"So, what's the real story?"

"About what?"  
"Don't play dumb with me, Toboe."

"Oh, about Tsume and me…" He caught her rolling her eyes to the sky by the corner of his as she nodded. "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll find something that makes sense in all those _rumours_"—the word was said with disgust—"flying over the campus."

"I'd rather not."

"Why? What do they say?"

"Trust me, Toboe, you don't want to know."

"That bad, huh?" He chuckled as he remembered the exact same words Tsume said earlier.

"Just tell me the truth. It'll save us both problems."

He eyed her, raising an eyebrow. "How does this affect you?"

"You're my friend, aren't you? Then it affects me indirectly."

He nodded. "He saved me."

"And?"

"Well that's pretty much it. Well… no, not really. That's not even close to being all of it. In fact, it's not even—"

"Get on with it, Toboe!" she pressed.

"Oh, right… After he saved me, he brought me to his place because it was the only safe place he could think of. Considering that my apartment was right next to where I was attacked and such. Then he undressed me to—"

"So he_ did_ rape you!!" Her tone was nothing short of mortified.

"Huh?" Her words made their way to his ears, then to his distracted brain, making an incredible shade of crimson red spread all the way to his ears. "Wh-What? N-No! Of c-course not! I-I-I-It's b-because I-I-I was w-wet and I-I was t-t-t-too tired to ch-change i-into anything d-dry! S-S-S-So he did I for m-me!"

"Oh! Okay…" She sighed in relief, not knowing what she would do to the man if it was true. "I thought that he did something to you against your will."

"Well, technically I didn't notice until I woke up this morning…"

"Ah, I see. So you're not together?"

"Um, not couple-wise anyway. But I think that we might be friends now… In a weird kind of way."

"Hmm… That's to bad. It wouldn't've surprised me in the least if you were."

Amber eyes shot wide open. "Why—" He was not interrupted, but his voice just trailed off as he imagined little plumb, pink hearts floating above his friend's head. If it was even possible for such a phenomenon to occur, it would most definitely happen to her by the way she was looking at him with sparkly eyes. He had a bad feeling about what she was going to say next.

"You two just look so kawaiiiii together! I mean, I only say you for a fraction of a second in the main hall, but you both fit so perfectly with one another! Like two pieces of a puzzle that are destined to be matched! So much that you looked like you'd been a couple for ages! But obviously not as old as how long you would've been together 'cause you're both young, sexy and hot. The way you walked beside him and the way he watched your every move was just… wow!"

You could read nothing but utter shock on Toboe's soft features. No sounds could even climb up an inch in his throat. His ability to speak had left him in the dust. _We look like that to other people?... Wait, he was watching my every move?..._ His face flushed, apparently his ability to blush had _not_ left him. He coughed a few times and managed to speak, although it was mostly mumbles and stutters, but Kiminari caught it all. To normal people, it would sound like gibberish, but to her it was: "What do you mean he watched me? Or rather, how did he look at me?"

She smiled, content that she could describe them some more. "His eyes followed every movement you made. From your head to your toes and everything in between." Beet red seemed to be the color of the week. "As for how… like he was devouring the sight of you. Almost like a lover I'd say."

Toboe groaned, quite unsuccessfully trying to hide his scorching cheeks. More mumbling and stuttering came, but if he was not so embarrassed, it would've sound like: "You read too many yaoi mangas."

She shrugged, sparkles still in place in her blue eyes and invisible hearts dancing above her body. "Guilty as charged."

He rolled his eyes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to him, his words were no longer slurred. "But how can that be possible? We just met yesterday!"

"I don't know Toboe. Are you sure he was a stranger before what happened?"

"Yes, I…" Right now, he was lying. He hated to lie, especially to a friend. He could not ignored the feeling he got when he first set his eyes upon the gorgeous tanned man—he blushed at his thoughts—and the friction it caused when their skin touched. "I… I honestly don't know anymore… ARGH! This is so frustrating!" He shouted as he threw his arms in the air. That last action can be described in five words: really, _really_, _REALLY_ bad idea. The sway his arms created caused him to lose his balance. He tried to regain it, but with no success.

Luckily for him he had the best reflexes in the country… Well, excluding the previous night when the thug grabbed his arm. But then he was completely distracted, not to mention scared and right now he was only surprised and he was fully aware of everything going on around him and in his head. Before he could fall any further, his hand shot out, grabbing the nearest steady-looking branch. Well, it looked like it was until it cracked a little under the impact of the sudden weight.

A scream filled the air and he guest it was Kiminari. "Toboe! Oh my God! Are you alright?" her frantic yelling came, scratching mercilessly at his ear drums.

"Yeah, somewhat." If the pain from the violent tug his arm suffered yesterday was not bad enough, than now it felt like it was going to fall off. He was heavier than he thought. No, he was out of shape. He'd abandoned his training for a while now. Not because he didn't want to—on the contrary he really did want to—but because of all his school work. Right now, he regretted not making room for even a few minutes of it.

His other hand finally shot up to grab the branch as well so that he could get some kind of leverage to pull himself up. But as soon as he did, it cracked even more, threatening to fall off any second. This was becoming a very dangerous situation. He was able to jump down from great heights, but not at this elevation. Even he would break his legs. _How come these kind of things always happen to me?_ He wondered with an internal groan.

"Toboe!!" His friend shrieked again. "Hang in there!"

"What does it look like I'm doing…" he faintly laughed to himself.

"I'll be down there in a sec!" She yelled, completely oblivious to Toboe's last words. Her body practically flew down the branches. Something neither of them would have ever expected her to do. Let's just say that she was not one of the most balanced girls of the school. When she reached the place Toboe was dangling from, she started to walk towards him, her arm stretched out towards him.

"Don't come any closer!" He shouted. "If you do the branch is going to—" _Crack!_ "Break…"

"_TOBOE_!!"

His amber eyes shot wide open before he tightly shut them, waiting for the bone splitting pain to come. He knew there was no point to even scream. It's not like it would change anything. It felt the air was being sucked out of him because of the speed he was falling at. He knew the hard ground was only mere feet beneath him, but to his surprise, instead of feeling his legs break under him, two warm arms caught him mere inches from the ground. He was lifted back into the air, but secured in the two arms he swore he recognized. His amber eyes connected with golden ones as soon as they opened, as if a magnet was bound between them. "Ts-Tsume?"

A smirk appeared on his tanned lips. "You remember my name, I feel so honoured," he teased.

"Wh-What're you doing here?"

"Uh, did you already forget that we were supposed to meet up?"

"N-No, but… you're early."

"I know, I got bored. So I came to see what you were up to. To make sure you wouldn't get yourself into more trouble and all," he mocked as Toboe glared at him. "And it's a good thing I did get here earlier than planned, 'cause as soon as I arrived I heard that friend of yours screaming your name as if you were going to die."

"B-But how did you… The main entrance is on the other side of the school. How did you hear from that far?"

He shrugged. "I have good hearing for some reason."

_Like me?_ Toboe thought.

"After that I ran as fast as I could to prevent this city from losing such a beautiful kid as yourself." _Oh no… I did _not_ just say that!_

Toboe had never hated anyone as much as Tsume. Well, in a friendly-hate kind of way… if that makes any sense. Blood had rushed to his face many times in the past hours—every single time because of the tanned man—but at this precise moment it felt like he had a first degree burn all the way up to his ears. His eyes diverted from Tsume's gaze as he mumbled something that sounded _I hate you_ under his breath.

This amused Tsume to no end. It was just to easy to make a blush appear on the boy's face. If he had nothing better to do… no, he didn't have anything better to do. So it was more like if he had nothing more important—and what _it_ was did not please him in the least—to do, he'd spend the rest of the day making that specific shade of bright red blush across his adorable face of his. He tensed for a split second. _I did_not_just think he was cute… right? I can't think of him that was. Not now, not_ever_. Why did_I _have to get this stupid job? Why not Storm,__ Dragon__***1***__or somebody else? If_I_didn't have to do this, than I… he…_we_could…__ Argh, damn Dawn!_ He chuckled to himself internally at the last two words of his thoughts. It's almost as if they were meant to follow one another in the same sentence. Technically, they were exactly the same word if you turned the **m** upside down so that it looked like a **w**. He chuckled. Yes, they were definitely destined to be together.

Toboe felt the man's slight shaking as he laughed at some inside joke. "What's so funny, Tsume?" he asked innocently.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering how many more times this week I'd have to save you."

The brunette glowered at him. "I would've been just _fine_ if you hadn't come."

"Oh really?" he eyed him sceptically. "So if I hadn't caught you, you would've landed on all fours like a cat?"

"Ugh, anything but a cat…" Before the man could ask, the boy answered his silent question. "I hate them, but don't ask why."

Tsume smiled as a brilliant idea crossed his mind. "So, if I were to do this—" He abruptly pulled his arms from under the boy's small body then caught him again just before he hit the ground as the boy firmly grabbed his jacket. "—you wouldn't hurt yourself?"

"Tsume!!" Toboe shouted angrily, but the man could feel his lips smile against his neck.

Tsume pated his back with a low chuckle, still kneeling, the boy in his arms. "Don't worry, Toboe. I'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

"KYAH!!!" annoying high pitched voices screamed in unison, making the two wince. "SO KAWAIIIII!!!"

Toboe gently pushed back to look Tsume in the eye in question. They then both darted their eyes to the direction the awful sound came from. They shivered at the sight before them: dozens—no, more like hundreds—of girls were dancing in place as they stared at them with heart-filled eyes and the words _yaoi FanGirls_ practically floating above their heads.

"What the—"

"Kiminari!" Toboe shouted. "What did you do?!"

They both saw two hands shoot up from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. A few seconds later a head popped out in the front and the body attached to it followed shortly after. When the girl caught her breath, she shrugged. "I definitely did _not_ call my friends to tell them to call all their friends if they did not want to miss the best yaoi scene they' ever see in their entire life," she answered evilly.

"Liar."

She shrugged yet again as Tsume glared daggers at her. It was not because he was angry that they had an audience or that he felt like his ears were going to bleed because of all the screeching. Oh no. It was _far_ from that. _Why is she here?_ he groaned internally. "Let's go, kid."

The Kiminari smiled at his reaction and that only made him want to rip of her head that much more. God did he ever hate her. He gave a _Tch_ before standing up and turning around before giving one deadly glare at the crowd of girls that was going to follow them, but more to one than any of the others.

"What're you doing—"

"How much do you know about that girl?" His tone remained steady, but Toboe could see in his golden eyes that he was struggling to keep it that way.

"Why do you—"

"Answer the question, Toboe."

The boy flinched. He usually liked the ring his name had when the man's deep voice spoke it, but this time, not so much. It was demanding and strict. That of a gang leader's…

"I… I only met h-her this year at the o-opening ceremony."

_Figures_. "Don't talk to her anymore. Don't go near her anymore. Just forget about that bitch."

"Tsume! Don't say—"

"Toboe!" He cringed a little and that made Tsume calm down a little. He did not want to scare the boy. Quite on the contrary actually… "Please, Toboe, but if you don't… be careful, alright?"

A tint of pink appeared on his cheeks although he was startled by the man's sudden softness. Tsume was practically begging him to stay away from Kiminari. _Why?_ he wondered. "O-Okay, Tsume." _Why's he acting like this?_

When they reached Tsume's motorcycle, Toboe suddenly realised that they were being watched. By who you ask? _Everyone._ Toboe hated being watched. His grip tightened on… _Tsume's shirt._He gasped as a faint tint of pink cornered its way up to his cheeks. The man had carried him the whole way. The most embarrassing of it all though was the fact that he was in his arms bridal style and that his small arms were curled up on the man's chest.

When Tsume lowered his arms to put him down, he didn't hesitate to jump off, lowering his eyes, hoping to hide the now crimson blush from his nose to his cheeks. Tsume gave the boy an odd look to the boy's reaction, but said nothing about it. "D-Did you f-find everything, Tsume?"

"Yeah, it was quite easy actually." He pulled out said everythings as well as a bag of something from the leather bag that was laying beside his motorcycle. "I also got you a change of clothes just in case mine fall off you or something."

Toboe chuckled a little as he took his things from Tsume just before the bell rang, announcing the end of lunchtime. Well, for him anyway. "I should get going." Tsume nodded. "Um, thanks for everything, again." He turned his heels and waved with a bright smile as he ran towards the main entrance, "Bye, Tsume!"

* * *

Tsume lay on his bed, head resting on one of his hands while the other was tightly holding a picture, starring at the crumbling ceiling above him. He was waiting for stupid Dawn to call him back. Stupid boss was occupied at the moment with God knows what. No, even God probably did not want to know. _Satan_ probably did not want to know. Dawn could do some unimaginable things that you could not even imagine in your wildest dreams. Those kind of things could not be written down on paper, let alone words. He sighed, pushing his stupid boss out of his head for the moment.

He raised the hand with the piece of paper above his head and gazed at the face on it, examining it, analysing it. It was Toboe. As where all the other pictures scattered across the floor of the room. He did not know why, but something in him wanted to look at the boy's face. Like if there was something he was supposed to remember. Something important that only remained in his subconscious. The man just knew that he'd met the boy somewhere before. These déjà-vu sensations he kept getting were driving him nuts. His eyes scanned the photograph again and again… and _again_.

_Ring._ He ignored it his cell. _Ring._ He closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep before it could irritate him any further. _Ring_. He groaned with annoyance as he sat up, answering the bloody call. "What?" he asked more than ready to explode.

"_Is that anyway to speak to your boss?_"

Tsume rolled his eyes. "My deepest apologies _your Majesty._"

The voice on the other line chuckled. "_I'm sorry you could not reach me earlier—_"

"Don't apologize, don't do it again," he spat. If he called, no matter who it was, the person in question should answer him because he does not call for anything trivial.

"_Let's just say that I was…_busy," Dawn continued, ignoring Tsume.

"Whom could be so important to take up your precious time?"

"_Oh, he was not important. Quite on the contrary actually. He just needed to be taken care of_."

Tsume groaned at the double sense to Dawn's sentence. His boss was not known for simply _taking care of_ someone, there was always more to it._ Much_ more. "I see," he answered indifferently.

"_So, what did you need to tell me?_"

"Why the hell is that bitch Thunder hanging around the kid?"

"Why do you ask? Is there a problem with that?"

"Is there a problem? Hell ya there is! Don't you remember what happened the last time she interfered with my work?"

"_Hmm, it's a little blurry, but I do recall that there was a lot of blood shedding involved._"

"Yeah, and all of it was _mine_! She's a fucking traitor for God's sake!"

"_Yes, I'm aware of that._"

"Then why is she still alive?!"

"_I have my reasons, Claw._"

"Whatever, don't tell me, as always. But you at least owe me an explanation as for why you sent her without my consent!"

"_Oh, dear Claw, I did not send her at all. No, she decided to aid you on her own free will._"

"Help me? Her? What a joke! She hates my guts!"

"_Maybe there's more to it than you think._"

Tsume sighed with annoyance. He hated talking to his boss. Especially when it came to Thunder. "Look, if you're going to tell me that it has to do with that stupid brat's messed up past, I'll answer the same thing I always do : I never met that bitch before she joined the gang."

"_I wouldn't be so sure if I were you._"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"_I'm sorry, my lips are sealed, Claw. Thunder told me not to tell._"

"Damn it, Dawn! You're her boss! Take a stand _for once_!"

The voice on the other line gave an irritated growl. When Tsume's boss spoke again the ring the tone had could send anyone but the man running in fear. "Look, _I don't care about personal problems between any of my subordinates, only if it directly affects my business. As far as we both know, Thunder has not jeopardized your assignment yet. So she is free to do as she pleases unless I call her back for a job of her own. Until then, you are to leave her be and that's an order. Understood?_"

"Leave her be? Like hell I'll—"

"_This conversation is over, Claw_."

"Oh, sure it—"

"_Over!_"

Tsume considered throwing his phone across the room into the wall, hoping that the same would happen to Dawn. "Tch, whatever. But I swear on my reputation as the number one thief in this country that if she makes one wrong move, no matter how small it may be, that her head is _mine_."

"_Goodbye, Claw. I'd be careful if I were you, Claw._"

"Yeah? Well guess what? You're not me."

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***1* The **_**a**_** isn't pronounced **_**ah**_**, but more **_**ay**_** like in Dr**_**a**_**ke.**

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_**OMG ! CALLING ALL READERS !! HELP !!! :O**_

_Clx_ : HELP! :O

_Amx_ : Yes, I think they got that. ¬_¬

_Clx_ : You know the part I wrote about Tsume not remembering anything between him and Thunder ( Kiminari ), the thing is…

_Amx_ : She doesn't know what the connection should be between the two. *rolls eyes*

_Clx_ : So I need you fantastic people out there to give me ideas, please !

_Amx_ : Whichever reason will be posted will not come for another few chapters, so don't hesitate to give more than one. :P

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_Clx_ : I'M SO MEAN TO POOR TOBOE ! *glomps him*

_Toboe_ : I-It's okay. It's just a s-story

_Amx_ : She knows, but she feels bad for making everyone around you so untrustworthy.

_Toboe_ : Cant't… br… eathe…

_Tsume_ : *bares his fangs* Let _my_ Toboe go !

_Clx_ : *hides under bed with the dust bunnies in fear*

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**R&R please ! :3 Oh, and subscribe, and favorite, and alert, and—*gets slapped across the face by Amx***


	6. Unknown Number

_Clx_ : Sorry for taking so long to update.

_Amx_ : But on the plus side, we got lots of wonderful reviews :P

_Clx_ : I BLAME HISTORY ! D:

_Amx _: Welcome to the club.

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**Hiskubus** : Nothing can stop me from writing a TsumexToboe fic ! … But a cold can delay it xD Yeah, I'd probably be in the crowd as well… I thought about Blue too, but like you said, that's a bit silly xD And I think that Blue was the little white kitten with the blue eyes in the last episode ( the one Toboe was looking at ). But maybe that's just me… Quiet humour of my writing ? What do you mean by that ? Is humour usually loud ? xD ( sorry for my stupid sense of humour xD, it's the French side of me lol xD )

**Zetake** : Thanks !*doesn't hug because she's still sick* Achoo !

**Lovelessotaku03** : I thought you might notice that, and yes, I'm foreshadowing :P ( I had to look that word up lol xD ) I know what you mean, it was hard to type it because I kept laughing… Or maybe it's the effects of my cold kicking in again… Oh well…

I've been… Sleeping xD I missed a whole week of school because I was so miserable ! I had just barely enough energy to sit up ! But I got bored the first day, so I asked my mother ( she hates it when I call her that because it makes her feel old and she's only 35 xD ) who stays at home to teach me how to knit xD

My friend hates me… Because I missed all my Math classes except for one, which I slept through and the one after that I had an exam… We had the same note sheet… But I got 100% everywhere xD

( Thanks again for the idea you gave me :3 )

**Fence Walker** : Again, sorry for the confusion xD ( See **Lovelessotaku03** ! I _told _you I was confusing ! … I told you so I told you so ! Lol xD )

**WargishBoromirFan** : Thank you so much :P I did my best to make the yaoi-fangirls make you guys giggle :P Glad to see you liked it !

**XxTwisted-Suicide-AngelxX** : Again, thank you for telling me about the italicization of the 5th chapter. It's very much appreciated. :3

As for the mistakes, I'm not saying that I'm completely innocent, but I blame my keyboard for that. The keys only work two thirds of the time, making it longer than it should to type a chapter.

Yay ! Another fan ! Lol xD

**Blackrose1993** : Lol xD Umm… It should be up, last time I checked anyway. Type cruellovebp in the search box and it should be in there :P Thanks for the idea *hugs* Um, I don't know if they'll be in this one, but I intend to make several sequels so… They should appear eventually. Actually, Dawn is someone else from Wolf's Rain, that never even spoke but we saw for a few seconds :P Thank you so much for your fantastic review ! :D

**Thank you so much to my current and future ( I hope :P ) reviewers, subscribers and favoriterers. Yeah, I decided it was a word xD**

* * *

Dawn frowned as Claw snapped his phone shut before she could add anything else to their conversation. That man was going to get himself into more trouble than he already was. Claw was her best thief, she had to give him that, but he was so thick headed and arrogant sometimes that it made her want to scream. Although she would never admit that to anyone. The missions she gave him were always the hardest, but she did it anyway because she knew he would succeed and that she could trust him.

The only thing was, and this saddened her somewhat, that he was not known to be the killing type. It would make his life so much easier if he stabbed someone in the heart with that knife-like weapon of his once and a while. The last time the thief murdered a man was nearly a decade ago and the only reason he had resorted to committing such an act was to protect his family—without going into too many details, his efforts were in vain and let's just say that revenge was something you did not want him to direct in your way. There was also one other problem about him…

Dawn sighed sadly, then smiled, then sighed again with a deep frown. She heard footsteps coming her way and immediately recognized the familiar presence. Although she knew it was coming, she was still startled by the cold finger that tapped at the creases forming between her eyebrows. "You're going to wrinkle if you keep frowning like that," the soft and warming voice whispered breathtakingly.

The shadow of a smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she took his hand in hers, rubbing it against her skin. "I know, Dragon."

He rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "What's on your mind, Dawn?"

"It's not a question of what, but rather who." He eyed her. "It's Tsume."

"That's not the answer I wanted to hear. You'll make me jealous," he chuckled jokingly as he ran his fingers through her scarlet curls.

She smiled before leaning in to lay a small peck on his Dragon's lips. "I wouldn't want that, now would I?"

"Why exactly are you thinking of him? What'd he do this time?"

"Well, technically speaking, he hasn't done anything too grave yet, but he's starting to… get attached again." _This_ was the man's only other imperfection.

"Attached? But his assignment only started yesterday. How can he create a bond with someone he's only just met?" He pondered on the question for a few seconds because Dawn clearly did not intend on telling him until he knew. Something flickered in the back of his copper eyes. "Don't tell me he's…"

"Yes, what I feared I happening. Tsume the Claw is… starting to remember."

* * *

Toboe huffed as the last bell announcing the end of the day rang. The afternoon felt like an eternity for the boy. At least the questions stopped. As for the rumours, well that was an entire different and more complex story. Their—as in the man and his—little _scene_ they put up during the lunch break generated a whole new wave of whispers.

"Alright! We finally get to go home!" some kid chanted as he passed by Toboe.

Home. Meaning his apartment. Should he go there? Was it even safe yet? The boy highly doubted it. Even it if was, did he _want_ to go back? Again, he highly doubted it. But, where was he to go? He did not have enough money to rent another apartment and he did not have any family nearby. And… it's not like Tsume was going to let him stay at his place for a few weeks or so.

Toboe sighed as he roamed towards the main entrance. He suddenly felt… watched and raised his amber eyes only to find that everyone was starring at him, again. He was really getting tired of this. Couldn't people just move on already? That's when he finally heard the whispers.

"I really think they're going out! That man even came to pick Toboe up!" a not-so-subtle kid murmured.

The boy's eyes opened wide as he dashed towards the main entrance gates and there he was, all cool and composed, hands in his pockets as he leaned on his… car? Tsume smiled at him.

"What're you doing here?" Toboe asked innocently.

"Why else? To pick you up of course."

Toboe looked at his feet to hide the rosy tint on his cheeks. "I-I can go to my apartment now, I think. Y-You don't need to do this for m-me."

"Yeah, I kind of do. It was my fault in the first place that that idiot was sulking in the alleyway because I beat him up. If it hadn't been for that, you would've never been chosen as his _distraction_. And besides, it doesn't look like you're overjoyed to go back to your apartment anytime soon. Or am I wrong?"  
Tsume took the boy's silence as a no then opened the door he was leaning on for him.

"Where's your motorcycle?"

"Being upgraded so that it can go faster," he smirked. "That and it's easier to carry luggage in a car."

Toboe nodded as he sat inside. When Tsume closed the door behind him, a swift scent filled his nose and made his heart beat painfully against his chest. It was pure Tsume. It was as if the inside of the car was soaked in it, then painted in it then coated in it! Well, if his scent could be put in a liquid form that is. Technically, if he wore cologne it would be possible, but Toboe always felt like every kind was too strong of a smell and it always made him feel nauseous. It was quite the opposite when it came to Tsume. Said man sat beside him right before chuckling at his flushed expression and driving off.

* * *

Mr. Rogers sat down on the coach in the living room, still swearing about the Tsume incident. No one ever stood up to him before that morning, well excluding his idiot of a brother. Wasn't that what little brothers did? Annoy and defy you in every possible way they could? If not for some, it was their case. But Mr. Rogers lived with it. His brother was always getting into fights and always ended up losing. Why? Because it was always against the same guy. You'd think that he'd smarten up and change his choice of opponent, but he was stubborn.

Somehow, Mr. Rogers could never seem to remember who that specific man was. He'd never been good with names. It was a miracle that he could recognize some of his students. Although, there was no way he was going to forget the name of the arrogant tanned man who dared to defy him: Tsume. The latter was going to have hell to pay for humiliating him in front of his class. How did the man know about his second job anyway? Was he a spy hired by the enemy because? No, he highly doubted that. And he knew that Dawn did not suspect him of treason so... Who the hell was he?

"Damn it!" He shouted as he threw a pillow against the wall.

The door slammed open before the cushion hit the floor and in came his… beaming brother? Said man rushed past him without saying a word. Usually he would be rambling about how much he wanted to kill that certain opponent that he could never defeat and he was, but… he was smiling. That was new. Not just that, he was opening the hidden compartment in the cupboard that held his favourite revolver. He only used it when he was serious.

"What're you so cheery about?"

"Oh, hey Tsukasa!" He said as he stopped dead in his running back in forth through the house. "Didn't see you there."

"Apparently."

"Hey, it's not my fault you're unusually quiet."

"And it's not mine that you're annoyingly loud at the moment. What are you planning anyway? I haven't seen you this worked up since you planned that murder." Yes, he knew his brother killed people that got on his nerves and he wasn't going to do anything about it. It did not concern him so he did not bother with it. "Wait, don't tell me…"

His brother grinned. "Yeah, I finally found him after all these years. Why didn't I think of planting a tracking device on his motorcycle sooner!"

"'Cause you're and idiot."

His brother ignored him. "At last I'll be able to have my revenge on him! And I have the perfect plan too! That bastard Tsume is going to get what he deserves!"

Tsukasa's expression turned to pure shock and his brother eyed him oddly.

"What's wrong?"

"What's the guy's name?"

"Tsume, why?"

Tsukasa smiled as his shoulders relaxed. Things would turn out to be okay after all. "Give him hell."

* * *

"Where should I put my stuff?" Toboe asked as stepped into Tsume's room a few bags in hand.

The man followed him with much bigger luggage on his shoulders. "I emptied the first drawer for you, but I don't think there's gonna be enough room." As if to emphasize his point he left the room for a split second after dropping the bags he was carrying on the ground and came back with even more than he did the first time. "How much stuff does one kid need anyway?"

Toboe smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I figured that I'd be here for a while… So I _may_ have brought a few more things than necessary."

"May?" Tsume chuckled.

"Okay, did…"

They gazed at each other for a quiet moment before laughing.

"Anyway, put your stuff away and I'll be back in a sec."

"Where're you going?" Toboe felt his stomach remind him that he had barely eaten at lunchtime. He hoped Tsume had not heard it, but the smile on the man's lips told him otherwise.

"To get something to fill you up."

Toboe turned towards his bags with a smile to hide his embarrassed face as Tsume took his cell out of his pocket. He dialled Dawn's all to number as he walked out of the room and down the stairs. Just as he was about to press the Talk button, it rang. He starred at it questionably for a split second. The caller's number was unknown to him. Not many people—if there were any—knew where to reach him, but that was not what bothered him… Maybe if he recognized the voice he'd feel better.

"Hello?"

"_Hello, Tsume._"

The tone rang a bell, but he could not give the voice a face. "Who is this?"

"_Someone you're familiar with._"

Tsume rolled his eyes with annoyance. "That's barely helpful."

"'_Guess I don't have much of a choice but to tell you, huh? Seems like your thick head ain't very useful._"

Tsume groaned.

"_My name's Kaito._"

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"_Ouch, that hurt, Tsume. I can't believe you don't even know my name after all these years of suffering you put me through._"

Tsume's eyes went wide in understanding. "Wait, you're…"

The voice on the other line belonging to the brute laughed.

"_Finally clicked in I see._"

"What the hell do you want from me?" Tsume growled.

"Oh, quite on the contrary. I just came to retrieve something you stole that's rightfully mine."

Tsume tensed as a horrified expression spread across his face. "Don't tell me—"

"TSUME!!" the boy's voice shouted from upstairs.

"Toboe!" The man swiftly turned around and dashed towards the bedroom. _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!!!_

"TSUME!!!"

He tried to open the door, but something on the other side was blocking it. He rammed into it with his shoulder but it barely budged. "Damn it!" Tsume backed up then ran towards the door, kicking it just as he reached it. The door fell with a loud _clank_ as the same happened to Tsume's heart at the sight before him.

* * *

_Clx_ : KYAAH ! I almost died when Tsume said "To get something to fill you up" !!!

_Amx_ : You're such a pervert.

_Clx_ : Guilty as charged. x3

_Amx_ : *sighs* At least you're not rambling about the oneshot you—o_O Oh crap !

_Clx_ : KYAHH !

_Amx _: What's with all the Kyaah—

_Clx _: That's true ! I wrote this superb oneshot fic about Tsume and Toboe, but it takes place_ after_ this one ! So I can't put it up ! WAAAAAAAH !!!! TAT

_Amx_ : Ugh, me and my big mouth… Anyway, you gotta love cliffhangers :P MWAHAHAHAAA !!

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**R&R please ! *looks at Amx* Subscribefavoriteandalert!!! *ducks before getting slapped by Amx* Haha ! *gets hit by Tsume* TAT**


	7. To Snap

**_CHANGED RATING TO _M_ DUE TO VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER._**

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_Amx_ : I SWEAR TO KIRA THAT ONE DAY I'M GOING TO HUNT DOWN WHOEVER'S IN CHARGE WITH YOUTUBE AND SHOVE MY FOOT UP THEIR *** !!!

_Clx_ : C-Calm down A-Amx—

Amx : CALM DOWN ?! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN THEY TOOK THREE OF MY AMVS DOWN AT ONCE !!!

_Clx_ : I-It's okay, I'm putting them back up ( eventually )—

_Amx_ : SO WHAT ?! IT'S FREAKING STUPID !! WE PUT IT IN THE DESCRIPTION THAT WE MADE NO PROFIT WHATSOEVER WITH THEM !! ONE WAS TAKEN DOWN BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC IN THE CREDITS !! THE _CREDITS_ FOR CRYING OUT LOUD !! WHAT'S THE F***ING POINT IN PUTTING AMVS IF THEIR JUST GONNA REMOVE 'EM ?!?!

_Clx_ : I—

_Amx_ : LEMME AT THOSE BASTARDS !! LEMME RIP THEIR GUTS OUT AND BURN THEIR EYES WITH SMOLDERING NEEDLES AND CUT THEIR FINGERS OFF BIT BY BIT ONE BY ONE THEN SHOVE 'EM DOWN THEIR THROAT AS I SNAP THEIR LEGS OFF !!

_Clx_ : o_______O … Oh my…

_Amx_ : THEN I'M GONNA TIE 'EM UP TO A POST WITH BURNING HOT CHAINS AND PEEL THEIR SKIN OFF WITH A KNIFE AND PUSH IT INTO THEIR EYE SOCKETS AND PUNCH THE HELL OUTTA THEIR GENITALS THEN RIP THEM OFF AS WELL AND—( this goes on for a while, so I'll stop it here… )

_Tsume _: This here kids is the result of an overreaction caused by a much needed spring break and not being fed dinner until 9pm.

_Clx_ : … *traumatized* I think we know who's writing the torture and killing scenes… o________O'''''''''''''

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**Fence Walker** : You really think so ? Thanks so much ! For a while I thought I was writing them too OOC xD LOL

**Blackrose1993** : Yeah, I know why now… Stupid YouTube took 'em down… Grrr… Thank you *hugs* No lol, Dawn isn't Jagara or Reara :P And she isn't Myu either lol xD Honestly, if you're able to guess who she is, I'll come congratulate you in person xD And… Dragon _may_ be Darcia, but I'm not sure if I want him to be yet. He'll probably end up being an OC of mine :P

**Twingem2 **: *sighs* FINE, I suppose it's okay that you're subscribing to me, putting my story in your alert list and adding it to your favs… LOL xD Thank you so much *glomps*

**Lovelessotaku03** : I know right xP And yes, that one-shot I mentioned is the dream I had :P Stop denying that I'm confusing lol xD Sure thing, I'll definitely let you know if I need your help ;) Like I said to Blackroe1993, I'll congratulate you in person if you manage by some miracle to discover Dawn's identity. But rest assured, she's not an OC, I can tell you that much :P I'd give you a hint, but the only one I can think of will make it too obvious… or will it ? Anyway, I don't want to take any chances xD As for Dragon, I'm wavering between Darcia and an OC, but he'll most likely end up being an OC. No, I won't tell you anything ! Read and you'll find out ;P OMGawd ROFL xDDDDD When I first read Kaito I was like : Who the heck is that ?! xD I had to reread the last chapter to remember LOL xD In my defence, for the longest time I wrote McUgly 'cause I couldn't think of a name xD ( Um… did I not answer to you on YT again ? xD )

: Thank you so very much ! You'll find out in the following lines :P

**Toboe108** : Thankies :)

* * *

**Thank you so much to my current and future ( I hope :P ) reviewers, subscribers and favoriterers. Yeah, I decided it was a word xD**

* * *

"Toboe!"

"Tsume!" the boy cried desperately. "Help, please I—"

Kaito hit him so hard across the head with the gun that he securely held in his right left hand that it was going to leave a nasty bruise. "Shut up, kid!"

"Let him go!"  
"And why would I do that?" he asked as he pushed the revolver onto Toboe's sore spot, pulling a whimper from him. "He belongs to me, doesn't he?"

"I don't belong to _you_!" His sentence came out as a growl through his teeth and that only earned him another whack.

"I thought I told you to shut up!"  
Tsume inched closer as the two shot insults at each other. He could not allow Kaito to harm Toboe and even less kill him. He needed the boy to accomplish the task Dawn assigned to him. That and he—who did not become attached to anyone or anything, who barely felt any positive emotions—could not bear to see Toboe hurt like he currently was being. Although he did not show it too much, on the inside it tore him to pieces and he had no idea what could be the cause.

"You said_ he_, right?" Tsume warily started. "I thought you were only into girls and if so: why are you so keen on having him?"

"I could ask you the same thing now couldn't I?"

Tsume stayed silent.

"Besides, there's a first for everything, now isn't there?"

"Yes, but why him?"

"Again, I could ask you the same thing."

Tsume felt like pouncing towards Kaito right then and there to beat the crap out of him, but he knew he had to remain calm if he valued Toboe's life. _And mine…_ he added mentally.

"Look, let the kid go. I'll give you whatever you want and, trust me, I can get you _anything_. Just give him here and put the gun down." He felt pathetic pleading like this. It was the first time he'd ever had to resort to this. But let's face it—because he won't—, he was desperate. "Just give him here and put the gun down."

"Why should I? It's not like he belongs to you or anything, right?"

"No, but I—"

"So I guess you won't mind if I do this…"

Kaito's gun less hand slowly crawled up inside Toboe's shirt and the latter whimpered.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tsume bellowed as he took a few steps forward.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I wouldn't come any closer if I were you," he said as he reminded Tsume of the gun against the boy's temple. The man's hand went even higher into Toboe's shirt and said boy closed his eyes, but was immediately punched in the gut with the gun, causing him to open them wide as he gasped for air.

"Keep your eyes open, or I'll only make things more painful for you and more enjoyable for me," he groaned sadistically.

The brute's finger snapped a few buttons open, then tore the rest of the shirt off with one swift movement. Toboe shuddered as he tried to suppress the tears that stung the back of his eyes. He so desperately wanted it to stop, all of it. The torment, the cold saliva that stuck to his neck after every bite and every lick, the pain in his stomach from the previous hit he received and the horrified and powerless look Tsume wore were just too much for him to handle. But most of all, he feared for what he knew was going to follow if he was not saved soon.

You could compare Tsume to a living furnace he was so pumped with anger right now. The fury that was building up inside of him threatened to explode at any moment. His fists were clenched so tightly that he could feel the blood seeping underneath his finger nails as they cut through his flesh. "Get your fucking filthy hands off him!"

"The more you talk, the faster I'll go, Tsume." His hand started to excruciatingly slowly snake downwards and Toboe's eyes went wider than they had ever been.

"No! Stop! Please stop!"

The thug's hand disappeared under the fabric and the boy shrieked in agony. _That_ caused Tsume to snap. He grabbed for his dagger and dashed towards Kaito with a cry of rage. Before said thug could react to Tsume's sudden burst of adrenaline, the gun was violently ripped out of his hand as the other arm was sliced off, falling with a splash. Tsume did not even give the other man time to cry out in pain before kicking him in the head so that he brutally fell to his side.

The brute looked like he was going to be sick. The burning of his missing limb, the torture of the hundreds of fractures in his hand and the stomach-turning blow his head received was too much at once, but Tsume could care less. He was going to get what he deserved. If it was needed, he would let him suffer for hours. But as soon as a look of resistance crossed Kaito's features as he tried to rise up, Tsume decided otherwise. With one more strong kick in the ribs, the thug rolled until he slammed against the wall.

He tried with all his might to use his remaining arm to push himself up. There was no way he was going to let Tsume defeat him once more. Not anymore. Although he was once again hit in the stomach, this time coughing up a large amount of blood.

Tsume grabbed his broken hand with an excess of power, throwing him face first onto the wall. As his foot found the soft spot in between Kaito's shoulder blades, he tugged a little at his arm, making it bend in a highly uncomfortable way.

"What are you doing?!" Kaito screamed with pure horror.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Tsume answered flatly, pushing the arm even further up.

"No! Stop! Please stop!" he desperately pleaded.

Tsume smirked sadistically, a murderous glint glazing over his golden eyes. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Kaito stared at the tanned man in shock and the width of his eyes only increased when he felt a loud crack in his shoulder as it bent in a way it should never had. No sound could manage to crawl up his throat. He wanted to scream, but it was as if his whole body was paralyzed.

Tsume let go of the arm and it fell limply to the side of its owner. The silver-haired man stared at him, as if completely indifferent to the obvious pain Kaito was in judging by his expression. Well, at least his face was indifferent, because it was a completely different story when it came to his eyes. The irises were slit so much that they were practically inexistent. You could almost compare them to that of a beast.

Tsume kneeled in front of him, pulling his body by grabbing his hair so that they were at the same eye level. Not letting go of the petrified once-thug, he started to trail his dagger down his face ever so slowly. "You picked the wrong guy to piss off, Kaito," he growled in his ear.

"It… it hurts…" the almost inaudible whisper cried.

Tsume smirked. "Don't you worry, it won't last much longer."

"Please, I—"

The end of his sentence was too slurred to put into words. Blood splattered onto everything from the floor to Tsume as Kaito's throat was slit open in a movement so quick that it was practically invisible. There was no way anyone could have seen it since it ended just as fast as it began. The body fell to the ground with a sickening thud, although the head remained in Tsume's hand for a few extra seconds before the latter's eyes shot wide open, letting the hair pass through his fingers only to land in the pool of crimson beneath it. Now it was his turn to fall. He landed on his backside, as far away from the horror before him as possible.

"I… I killed him… Damn it! I—"

A faint whimper reminded him that he was not alone. His head turned quickly towards the source of the sound and his eyes met Toboe. The poor boy sat against the wall furthest from Tsume, his hands holding his ripped shirt tightly closed around himself and his legs pulled up against his arms as closely as they could. His whole body shook like a dead leaf does in gusty storm as his wide eyes stared at the place where the horrible fight came to an end. Tsume could not even describe the expression he wore.

"Toboe…"

The latter flinched at his voice, a tear or two escaping the rim of his eyes. Tsume stood, but Toboe only crawled further away into the corner of the room. The man frowned sadly as he lowered the hand he had raised towards him. Toboe examined every inch of red his eyes could find and most of it was on Tsume. Their eyes met and locked on to each other then they stayed so for what seemed like an eternity for the both of them.

The man took a wary step forward and Toboe did not move away. A few more and Tsume was standing right in front of him, only at an arm's distance. He knelt down and Toboe threw himself at him, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his neck as he sobbed his heart out, not carrying in the least that he was now soaked in the iron scented liquid as well. Although startled at first by the sudden outburst, Tsume held onto the boy's small frame, absentmindedly running his fingers through hi silky brown hair.

"It's okay now. It's all over."

"Tsume…" the boy chocked as he leaned even more into the comforting warmth.

"I'm so… _so_ sorry you had to witness that. I… I don't know… just something… something inside of me… burst out."

"Tsume?"

"Yeah?"

"I… I-I'm scared."

Tsume rubbed his back in such a gentle manner that he had a hard time believing it was actually him making the comforting gesture. "Don't worry. I'll protect you no matter what, Toboe." _Damn Dawn…_

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Tsume." _But I'd be really happy if you could keep it._

"I never do and I fully intend on keeping this one." Tsume looked out the window and noticed that the sun was no long represent in the sky. "You must be tired," he whispered as he stood up. "I'll—"

"No!" Toboe grabbed his arm, terrified, but somehow managing to blush. "Don't leave me…"

Tsume smiled softly as he hugged him. "Alright, I'll get rid of _it_ later." He picked the boy up and made his way downstairs. Toboe did not argue with the man when he was asked to keep his eyes closed and leaned into Tsume's heat as if a powerful magnet was pulling them together. He felt like a little kid being carried the way he was, but he was not complaining. The way he rocked in his strong arms as he walked to God knows where was comforting and relaxing in a way completely new to him, so much that his eyelids were starting to feel heavy.

No one ever cared for him the way Tsume was and he hoped from the bottom of his heart that he was not acting like so just to try and steal _it_ like so many others before him. But then again, how could Tsume know about it since they just met? And if it was something valuable he was after, he would have made the smart decision by stealing his watch, but he did not. So it was impossible for Tsume to be so kind because of money. It had to be or…

The rocking ceased and Toboe guessed Tsume had sat down. He subconsciously snuggled closer—it was colder where they were now—as fingers ran through his hair. A blanket was pulled over the both of them. If you looked closely, you could see a faint smile on his tired lips. "Tsume?"

"Mm?"

"I… I've lo…"

* * *

_Clx_ : ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER ?! :O

"_Amx"_ : Yeah, well the chapter was originally way longer than this. So we had to cut it somewhere.

_Clx_ : I know, but it still sucks… T^T

"_Amx"_ : Yeah? Well you'll live with it.

_Tsume_ : _What_ are you doing ?

_Clx_ : … Well, um, _Amx_ is still cooling down… So I have to fill in for her… ^_^'

_Tsume_ : *rolls eyes*

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**R&R please ! *covers away at the glare she gets from Amx and Tsume* (whispers: you know what to do)**


	8. In Motion

_Clx_ : NO I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN YOU !!! I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY SINCE IT'S THE END OF THE SEMESTER !! SO SORRY FOR THE REALLY LATE UPDATE ! DON'T KILL ME ! T^T

_Amx_ : The end of the year is nearing and all, so it's getting harder to find free time between all the studies and flyball training ( for our three dogs ).

_Clx_ : Usually that would be a lie since we DESPISE studying… but this year's really important so…

_Amx_ : Anyway, it's not like you people care about our dull life, but it was just to let you know.

_Clx_ : Enjoy the longly awaited chapter ! :3

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**Becauseimthefavorite** : I declare that the word stupendous is definitely a word (if it's not already one lol xD)

Thank you for loving it so much lol xD I worked REALLY hard on the fight scene.

I was worried that it was only going to be clear in my head but not when I put it into words lol.

**Twingem2** : Thanks, was I _too_ graphic ? Maybe I was a little… but then again, (don't be scared) scenes like those **always** appear in my mind so it felt a little good to get it out, you know?

Um, yeah… about that… seems I _kinda_ took a little bit more a lot longer than I planned to before posting a new chapter… heh…. Heheh *sweat drops*

**Blackrose1993** : (no you didn't spell it right, but it doesn't matter lol xD) Yeah, there was a problem with copyrights too, but now they stopped removing them (for the most part) and instead they're putting a link of the song so that they can buy it from iTunes.

Toboe will live lol xD It's not like… no, never mind, I don't want to spoil anything for you :P

**Lovelessotaku03** : Oh yes, finally off my chest, but now I want to kill YT 'cause I've been trying to put up a new AMV for the longest time and it won't f*cking work !! *breathes deeply*

Anyway, thanks lol… but what do you mean by where did they go? I'm confusled, I need to go re-read my chapter xD If I remember correctly I think that Tsume just carried Toboe downstairs into the living room so that they could lie on the couch since, well, the beds were _kinda_ covered in blood xD

Oh yes, you can count on that my friend :P (although the rating was changed more because of the violence in the previous chapter :D )

**Vicky Chain** : Thankies :3 If you think Toboe's cute so far, you haven't seen anything yet :P

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**Thank you so much to my current and future reviewers, subscribers and favoriterererererer… ers… I think I may have had a few too many Baileys chocolates xD**

* * *

"I… I've lo… I've longed to see you again," he breathed.

"Longed to see me? What do you mean."

Silence was shortly followed by deep breathing. Tsume smiled as he watched him sleep. _Leave it to Toboe to say something senseless before he falls asleep. _The brunette looked so peaceful and innocent. Well, as far as innocence went after witnessing what happenned to Kaito.

Tsume sighed as he walked up the stairs to the room where all the remains were. He finally found someone whose company he enjoyed, someone he liked. Ever since his only family was slaughtered, he became cold to most and joined Dawn's team to get his revenge. It was not allowed for him to get attached to anyone, especially Toboe.

Tsume stared at the lifeless body before him, thinking of what to do with it. The whole process of disposing of it would not take him long—it never did—even though this type of thing rarely happened. All he had to do was burn any kind of fabric the blood may have soiled, scrub the floor and walls spotless with bleach and dispose of the corpse sd well as the murder weapon by putting it in a body bag then throwing it to the bottom of river many miles away from his current location. Although, if there were any pieces of clothing that were metal, such as zippers or buttons, he would have to throw those away witht the cadaver since they would not burn in the flames. Nothing too complicated.

The procedure took him two hours at most, except that Storm still needed to come over and pick up the body to divest of it since he did not have time to. It was sad to say that it seemed as though doing such a revolting task was his typical pass time. _It's like I'm a professional serial killer like Dawn or something…_ The thought shot shivers down his spine.

Something in his pocket jumped him out of his train of thought. Cursing under his breath, his hand grabbed his phone and he answered without looking at the number. "Yeah?" he grumbled.

"Yo, Claw! How're ya doin'?"

"Oh, hey, Storm…"

"Where'va ya been? Ya never come by anymore. Why would that be?" The man opened his mouth the reply, but he was cut off by his friend. "And don't even try to tell me _I've been busy for a whole two months preparing for a special assignement and right now I'm in the middle of it so I don't have anytime to fool around with you_ 'cause I won't believe ya!"

The tanned man smiled as he gave a low chuckle at the impersonation.

"Hey, dud, are ya alright?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

There was a short silence. "'Cause ya laughed. _The_ _Claw_ laughed 'cause of something I said. Did something happen?"

"Why're you asking me that? Something _always_ happens to me. I'm not your every day typical guy, Storm.

"'Kay then, I'll be more specific: did something happen with the boy?"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah? That's all I get? No explanation or anythin'?"

Tsume rolled his eyes. "No."

"Aww, come on, Claw. The last time ya kept things bottled up you went on a killin' rampage."

"Excuse me? Are you on drugs right now? 'Cause we don't seem to be living in the same dimension. As far as I know, I never went on a _killing rampage_."

"Fine, none of them actually died, but their faces are all unrecognizable."

Tsume pondered if he should tell him and sighed. "And what proof do you have that you won't go tell Dawn as soon as you know what you want to know?"

"Claw, I feel hurt. We've known each other for years and ya still don't know much about me… I hate Dawn almost as much as ya do, so there's no way I'd betray your trust."

"You suck at showing it."

"Well excuse me for being scared shitless of her, unlike a certain silver-haired stud I just happen to know."

The man smiled.

"So what happened?"

Tsume rubbed his temples as he frowned. "Exactly what was supposed to?"

"I see… so K showed up at your place after all then," he said more as a statement than a question. "Ya threatened 'im to never set foot in the country ever again, righ'?"

"Oh, he'll never come back alright," Tsume smirked.

"What? Oh… Did you…?"

"Yeah, he's dead."

There was a short silence, and then Storm exploded. "What the hell, dude?! Since when did ya agree on killin' people?! What on earth got into ya?!"

"He was going to rape and kill the boy damn it! What else was I supposed to do?!"

"He was… to… rape? Well… that changes everything… I guess."

Tsume inhaled deeply to try and calm himself down. If he kept yelling like he was, Toboe would wake up. "Look, I had no other choice. The kid was at gunpoint and… I just snapped."

"That's no excuse though, Claw. It's not the first time you've done this kin' of job. You're practically a pro at keeping your cool. Why is this kid an exception?"

"I honestly don't know. I just feel like… I should protect him. Out of all the people I conned, he's the one with who I get along the most."

"Claw… your growing soft."

"I know… it sucks."

"And I think the reason that it's happenin'…" Storm laughed.

"So, why am I getting soft Mister Know-It-All?"

"'Cause your… _in love_," he whispered.

Tsume's eyes went wide. "Wh-What?" _Damn it! Why did I have to stutter now of all times?! _"Why the hell would you think that?!"

"I dunno, 'cause he's an exception out of all the people you've met. Ha! Claw in love, what a joke! Never thought I'd hear that before I'd die!"

"I _don't_ love him," he growled with irritancy.

"Then why'd ya stutter?"

"'Cause you caught me off guard."

"Now _that's_ a joke!"

"Then why would I?!" Tsume was beginning to be _seriously_ annoyed by the fact that Storm was having way to much fun with this.

"'Cause ya love 'im, duh."

Tsume's grip tightened around his cell so much that he heard a faint cracking sound. _He's so dead…_ he thought as a vein popped on his forehead. "I'm hanging up now."

"Alrigh', ya do that. Say hi to your lover for me—"

_CRACK!_

Tsume unclenched his fist, letting the remaining of his phone fall to the ground. He really needed to do something about his temper, especially when it came to Storm. For some reason, that man knew how to get under his skin and he used it against him, _a lot_. As he tried to cool down, Tsume heard a scream coming from the living room.

"Tsume?! Tsume?!"

Said man flew down the flights of stairs to where he left the boy and found him sitting straight up with the blanket tightly wrapped around him. Toboe spotted the man in the doorway and ran across the room to throw himself into his arms, not taking notice that the man was shirtless.

"Toboe, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine… now anyway."

"Now?"

Toboe buried his flushed face in the man's chest. "I… I was scared when I woke up and you weren't there, so…"

Tsume smiled. "But now you're okay since I'm here," he deduced.

The boy nodded as Tsume picked him up, sitting back on the couch as he, once again, pulled the covers over them.

"You're so hot," Toboe mumbled.

Tsume tried not to laughed, but could not help but smile. "I know, I'm a real stud, aren't I?"

The kid blushed as he realized what he just said. "I-I mean warm. N-Not that y-you're not hot, b-but I… I-I meant—When did you take your shirt off?!"

Tsume stared incredulously at the frantic boy, and then gave a low chuckle as Toboe lay back down on him, redder than ever.

"You know, this is the third time you're going to fall asleep on me in the last 72 hours."

"What can I say?" he shrugged. "You're one comfy pillow."

"And the second that we're both shirtless," he smirked.

"… You didn't need to remind me."

The man smiled as he watched the boy fall asleep in his arms. Dawn was awaiting his call so that he could notify her that the next part of the plan was in motion, but frankly he could not find the will power to leave Toboe's warmth. His eye lids slowly shut as his fatigue consumed him as well. _Dawn can wait…_

* * *

"Tsume… Tsu-me… Dude, wake up or I'm gonna kiss ya," Storm***1*** sighed as he poked him. "Tsume~"

Said man groaned as his drowsy eyes opened, only to meet too close for comfort lively copper ones. ""Bout time ya woke up, sleepy head."

The silver-haired man glared at him as he lift Toboe off him and pushed a few stray strands of hair that hid his angelic face away. "Why did I get this job…?" he muttered to himself.

Although he had not said it very loud, Storm heard him, causing him to grin from ear to ear. "I though' ya said ya didn' l—"

"Shut up, St—Arashi." Tsume corrected himself before he used the man's code name. It would have been very bad if Toboe happened to be awake and heard it.

Tsume looked at one of the many half-empty liquor bottles and decided to pour himself a glass, not bothering to offer any to his friend. He finished his glass in one gulp and sighed before pouring himself another round.

"It's nice to see ya're havin' a healthy breakfas', Tsume."

The latter groaned with annoyance once he poured himself yet another glass. "I thought I told you stupid early bird to only wake me up at ten o'clock," he finally said.

"Oh, but I kept my promise, it's already noon."

The man coughed as his drink went down sideways. "What?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"'Cause ya looked happy and at peace. It's not often that I see ya like that, not to say never."

"Why's that?"

"'Cause, let,s face it, ya never are. But I guess ya mood is much betta when ya're with ya love."

Tsume growled with frustration.

"Earlier… ya complained that ya got this job, but look at it this way : ya can go easy on 'im and ya'll know what'll happen to 'im, others would'nt have been so gentle with ya love," he smiled.

The man knew what his friend was telling him was true, but it was starting to get under his skin that he kept calling the boy his love. "Look, since your idiotic little brain of yours won't listen to a word I have to say about the matter, I'll repeat it slowly one last time : I don't love him, he's not my _love_, there's nothing going on between us and if you don't back off soon you'll regret it, _big time_."

Arashi sighed. "Fine, I get it. Keep denyin' ya feelin's."

Tsume pounced towards the other man and held his head between his arms. "You should've shut up when I gave you the chance—"

"Tsume?" a small voice mumbled tiredly. Both men froze as Toboe walked into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "Is there someone else here? I heard voices…"

_Crap, what'd he hear? _Tsume thought nervously. Toboe gave a wide yawn and blinked his eyes a few times. There was a man in a head lock between Tsume's arms. If Toboe thought Tsume was not your everyday guy, this one was one a whole different level. His hair looked like it reached further than the middle of his back _and_ it was currently held up by a leather band. His long locks were pitch black and about a few inches of the tips were pure white and, as oddly as Toboe thought it sounded, it looked like his natural color. The stranger was not quite as large as Tsume, but Toboe could tell through his tight shirt that he was well built. For all Toboe knew, they could be brothers since their skin tone was exaclty the same.

"Um… who's he?" the boy asked warrily.

Tsume let go and Arashi fell face first onto the floor. "No one important, just some random idiot I happen to know."

"I feel hurt, Tsume," he said as he rubbed his nose. "Physically and emotionaly at that."

He shot up and took Toboe by the shoulders. "Yo, I'm Arashi, nice ta meet ya!"

The boy blushed timidly. "H-Hi, I'm Toboe."

"Kyah! You're so kawai! No wonder Tsume's in l—"

Arashi go the empty bottle of liquor in the back of the head and fell to the ground once more. Toboe stared at the obviously irritated Tsume incredulously.

"Shouldn't you be leaving now, Arashi? What you came for is in the back?"

"You mean the—"

"Yes," he cut-off.

"Alright then, I'll leave you two love-birds alone—"

The glass Tsume was holding shattered on the wall beside his friend. "_Out!_"

Arashi fled out the back door without being told twice. He liked to push Tsume, but this time he pushed a little too far and he did not even want to know what would happen to him if he stayed any longer.

Toboe stared after the man, as he tried to hide his blush from Tsume. _What did he mean by love-birds?_ "So… who exactly was he?"

"A friend… a stupid, loud and annoying friend."

"Oh, I see," Toboe beamed as he sat down.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, thanks, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? It's past noon. It's not good to deprive your beautiful stomach of food for so long," he stated as he remembered that neither of them ate dinner the previous night.

Toboe blushed. "I know, but I feel like I'll be sick if I eat anything right now, so…"

"Something to drink then?"

The boy smiled. It felt so nice to have someone take care of him like this. It had been years since the last time he received any affection whatsoever. "Do you have any coffee?"

"Yeah." Tsume took some coffee beans out of the cupboard under the boy's watchful eyes. A pleasant calmness filled the room as the coffee brewed. Neither of them knew what to say, but they could find no need to break the silence either. In such a peaceful moment, it was hard to believe that what awaited them in the future was even possible.

* * *

Tsume stared at the road ahead of him, more than occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror to watch Toboe sleep. It already happened at least six times that the car almost crashed because he was so distracted by the boy and they only left his house two hours ago. It felt unreal to Tsume that he could be so fixated on the boy that they would end up in the opposite lane or almost drift off into the ditch. The most unbelievable part for Tsume though was that all those almost-accidents were all caused by the brunette dreaming in the backseat.

Toboe fell asleep as soon as he sat down. The poor boy was still recovering from the incident two days ago. He was so exhausted that he probably did not even remember getting into the car. Without wanting to admit it, Tsume was feeling a little drowsy as well. He never knew that his emotions could drain the energy out of him so much.

He stared at the blank GPS screen. The place they were headed was very familiar to him, so there was no need for technology to give him the right route. A large log house in the middle of the forest that was located only a few yards away from a beautiful stream was their destination. Only he and Arashi knew of its existence, but soon Toboe would know about it as well. Not even Dawn thought that Tsume had built such a haven in the middle of nowhere. But then again, why would she?

Tsume knew that Toboe needed to get away from everything and the boy did not even hesitate in the slightest when the man suggested that they leave for a few weeks. He believed that it was not a wise decision to send him right away to school would be safe, mentally anyway. Well that and…

Tsume jumped when his cell vibrated in his pocket. He really needed to change his calls to ring instead. He put his ear piece on and answered grumpily. "Yeah?"

"How're you doing, Claw dear?"

"Just peachy, Dawn."

"Ah, it's nice to hear. What about the boy?"

"Does it really matter? It's not like knowing is going to have some drastic change to your perfect little life, now is it?"

"I guess not," she chuckled. "How about the plan?"

"I'm on the road right now."

"Are you going to tell me your destination this time?"

"Is that honestly a question or are you thinking out loud again?"

The woman gave another low laugh. "How much longer is it going to take until you get the package?"

"It's all going to depend on how fast and how far my relationship with the kid goes."

"I see. Well, that's all I really wanted to know."

"I know."

"Claw, wait…"

"What now?" he sighed.

"Don't get too attached." That said, there was a faint click and Tsume shut his phone angrily.

"I know, moron. Who does she think she's talking too? Like _I _would get attached. What a joke!" He gave a deep chuckle before frowning and hitting the steering wheel. "Damn it… who am I kidding? I'm already head over heels with this kid. Maybe I can try to disappear from his life? No…it's already too late for that."

"Tsume?" Said man tensed as he watched Toboe sit up tiredly. He really needed to stop talking to himself. "Were you on the phone with someone?"

"Yeah, I was talking to my boss. She wanted to know how long I thought we were going to be gone."

"What'd you say?"

"As long as you needed to recover."

The boy nodded sadly.

"Toboe, are you crying?"

"N-No," he sniffed.

"What's wrong?"

"I… I-I just had a bad dream, th-that's all."

"About?"

"… Everything."

"Everything?"

"Tsume?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I come sit in the front with you?"

"Sure, why not."

Toboe unbuckled his seatbelt and sat beside the man. His eyes set on the river on the other side of the window. As he watched the water cascade over the falls onto the rocks, the same happened with his tears. The boy felt something grab his hand and looked down to see that it was Tsume's.

"Everything will be fine, Toboe."

"I know," he mumbled sadly. _But for _whom_ will it be fine?_ He thought miserably.

* * *

***1*** Believe it or not, Storm/Arashi is based on my big puppy… called Storm lol xD And there's probably going to be a character named Sora later… inspired by my other dog Sky xD

* * *

_Clx_ : Awww… I hate doing this to them T^T

_Amx _: Get over it, there wouldn't be an interesting plot other wise.

_Clx_ : I know… b-but it's so mean *sniffles*

_Toboe_ : It's alright, you know? It doesn't matter what happens between us as long as there's a happy ending.

_Tsume_ : *glares* There _is_ going to be one, **right**?

_Clx_ : Eeeep !! *runs away*

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**Even though most of you probably want to kill me for taking so long to update, please R&R :3**


	9. Turtle Kiss

Clx: We wanted to update sooner, but we have a life, so there were a few other things to do. *glances towards Amx*

_Amx_ : *glances towards Clx*

_Both_ : PFFFWAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! ROFL !!! LMAO !!! LOOOOOOOL !!! XD

_Amx_ : Oh my god xD What a sick joke ! We don't have a life xD

_Clx_ : We live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but vegetation ! xP

_Amx_ : There's nothing to do except taking a romantic stroll through the woods with yourself *falls of chair in laughter*

_Clx_ : Haha, but seriously… the reason it took so long is 'cause…

_Amx_ : We sorta… lost our booklet with everything written in it *sweatdrops*

_Clx_ : It took us forever to find it *ashamed*

_Amx_ : Then we lost it a second time…

_Clx_ : And once again, our beloved Storm found it !!!

_Amx_ : I just love that dog!

_Clx_ : And she doesn't love much either :O

_Am__x_ : *glares* Anyway, this chapter is the second reason that the fic rating was changed to MATURE !!!

_Cl__x_ : Yes people, that means there's gonna be lemon.

_Am__x_ : Gotta love delicious juicy fruits. *fangirl grin*

PS…

_Clx _: God.. the most scary thing happened last night O_O

_Amx_ : We felt like we were being watched 'cause there was a light flashing outside our window.

_Clx_ : We're paranoid enough as it is…

_Amx_ : So having the feeling of being watched doesn't help.

_Clx_ : And like the idiot she is, Amx went to open the window !

_Amx_ : Haha, but the result was funny xD

_Clx_ : Oh suuuure, if a firefly buzzing around my face and in my ears is funny then I'm a bald shemale hooker.

_Amx_ : *gasp* I KNEW IT ! =O

_Clx_ : *glares*

* * *

**Fence Walker** : Thanks lol, yeah… and this time there were complications for the updating -_-;;;

Thanks Again :P

**Becauseimthefavorite** : A lot of people seem to love him xD I know right? 3 There should be a happy ending anyway xD

**CrouchingCrookshanks** : *killed by army of squirrels*

**Yoshii** : Omg, addicted O/////O The best ?! O/////////////O (may I ask, who's may10baby? xS)

**Libby** : I fully intend on finishing this fic, don't worry ;P

**Vicky Chain** : Thankies *hugs* Yeah lol, it's a TsumexToboe fic… Thanks so much :)

**Kyuun** : Thanks lol :P Actually, I heard it from my uncle while we were playing Halo 3 lol xD (Don't ask why he said it at that specific time... 'cause he never told me why xD) So I don't know if it's his or not, but supposing it's mine, yes you can use it lol xD May I ask what the fic is about ?

**Smiles13** : Eeeep O_O I know it's not a pretty thing… but I can't resist, I'm such a gore-hore lol xD I tried to update fast… seriously T^T

**FirexxxFox** : Never before :O I feel so flattered xD Thank you so very much for making me your first :P (that's sounds soooo wrong, but nobody needs to know that xD)

**iShiznitch** : Yep, the angst is coming all right :P

**Lovelessotaku03** : Yeah, about time don'tcha think ? lol xD You'll know who Dawn is eventually lol xD Yep, there's no doubt that somethings' gonna happen to screw up everything, or else there wouldn't be a good storyline :P

Here it is my friend, your Lemony goodness :P

**I'm At My All Time Low** : Thank you :P It's okay, we're probably more twisted than you are :P Thanks again xD

**NykinaEverlynn** : I know, I'm actually a little disappointed about the other fics for Wolf's Rain. A lot of them are good, but there's just as much that aren't. I can't believe so many people DON'T make TsumexToboe fics, there such an obvious couple lol.  
Thanks, for two things: one, for thinking my fic is good; and two, for giving me an idea of what he's looking for lol xD To be honest… I didn't know what it was yet xD

And the plots really interesting, I started looking though the chapters to  
see if I couldn't find out what Tsume's after. I like the Storm guy  
though-so amazing that you based someone off your dog- he's funny, comedy  
relief after all the drama.

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**Thank you so much to my current and future reviewers, sub****scribers and favoriters… I feel so loved T^T It doesn't happen often !!! Lol joking xD (seriously, I'm not kidding -_-;;;)**f

* * *

"Ts…Tsume…" Toboe moaned.

"Just a little more, Toboe."

"Ah… God…"

"Tsume is fine," the man chuckled.

"I-I can't any… anymore, Tsume… AH!"

"Bear with it a little longer…"

"Tsume!" the boy shouted.

"What?!"

"My arms are killing me!" he whinned as he sat down.

"_I know_! You've been complaining since we left the car. It's _your_ fault for bringing so much crap."

"I didn't think we were going to walk! If I knew—"

"You would've brought just as many things."

"No I…" Toboe pouted in defeat. "We've been by foot for at least six miles in the woods. If it were on a flat surface it wouldn't be so bad. How much longer do we have to walk anyway?"

"Not much, runt."

"My name's Toboe!" _Wow… déjà-vu…_

Tsume rolled his eyes, the shadow of a smile cornering his lips as he started walking again. Toboe huffed with discouragement as he followed the man. He wsa so out of breath, that he remained quiet for the following ten minutes—which was a lot, considering it was Toboe.

"Why," he finally murmured, "Why did you have to build something so far in the middle of nowhere—" Toboe felt like he just walked into a brick wall. Groaning at the man who stopped dead in front of him—probably doing it on purpose, knowing that he was walking not that far behind him—and he rubbed his nose as he side-stepped around said wall. When he opened his eyes, his mouth fell open at the beautiful sight before them.

"We're here," Tsume announced.

The log house was not that big, but the way it was built was just amazing. A small flight of stone stairs led to the front door and stepping stones went all the way to the side door that opened up to the living room in the basement. Immense windows covered the front and sides. _It's not a log house, it's a window house, _he thought.

A small stream ran from a little fall in the back all the way to the river not far from where he stood. Even though Toboe knew it was not planned, it seemed as though a rainbow of flowers created a carpet all the way along the water to the roof of the house. Frankly, he was at a loss for words. "Wow…"

Tsume smirked with content. "I knew you'd like it. Do you want to check out the inside?"

Toboe nodded, still in shock. The man rolled his eyes as he walked over to the side door. It opened without the slightest effort and Toboe frowned. "It wasn't locked, was it?"

"There's no point 'cause, like you said earlier, who would build something in the middle of nowhere. The only living things you'll find around here are plants and animals. It's not like we're in that _New Moon _book of yours and some wolf will change into a human and open the door, so there's no worries."

The boy chuckled as he followed after Tsume. _Yeah, I guess he's right_. But there was still something about what the man said last that made him feel like he should remember something. He discarded the thought, promising himself that he had to stop confounding reality with books.

"Our bedroom is at the end of the hall upstairs if you want to put your bags down."

"_Our_ bedroom?"

"Yeah, I never thought that anyone other than myself or Arashi would come here, so I didn't bother."

"…"

"What?"

"When Arashi's here, do you…?"

"Oh! God no! He sleeps on the couch downstairs. I don't trust him enough the let him sleep in the same bed as me. It might not have seemed like it when you saw him yesterday, but he always acts like he's in heat and practically humps everything that moves, figure of speech." Toboe chuckled. "There's only one bed too and the room isn't that big, despite the size of the house."

"Oh, okay," he mumbled with a faint blush.

"Is that a problem?" he asked evilly, knowing fairly well that the boy was still shy about the idea of sleeping in the same bed as him.

"N-No, n-not at all. Um, I-I'll go put my stuff upstairs." Without even having a clue that he had the slightest bit of energy left in his legs, Toboe ran upstairs and across the hall to hide his deepening blush.

He dropped his bags as soon as he closed the door behind him and caught his breath. That was a good thing, because what lay before him was breathtaking. _Wow…_ he thought as his eyes widdened, taking in the beautiful sight before him. It seemed as though Tsume was not very good a estimating sizes since the bedroom was _huge_ and the window that covered almost the entire wall opposite from him that faced the river made it seem even bigger. Even the bed… so what if there was only one? It was a king-sized for crying out loud! And the view was just breathtaking, it was as if he could see miles away past the river and the mountains behind it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Tsume whispered in the boy's ear, causing the latter to jump.

"God, Tsume, don't scare me like that," he said as he held his chest, feeling his frantic heart beating under it.

"Why? It's just so fun that I couldn't resist." An evil smirk snaked it's way across his lips.

Toboe blushed, but did not move away from the man. "I-I thought that the r-room was small?"

"Really? Who said that?" he blew on the boy's neck.

"You're the one who—" Toboe's eyes met golden ones and blushed, turning back towards the window immediatly. "N… Nevermind…"

Tsume chuckled. "I told you it was small 'cause your shocked expression is cute," the man murmured as he massaged the boy's shoulder. Said boy muffled a moan by putting his hand on his mouth. "Oh, you like that?" the tanned man teased.

"O-Of course I do, my whole body aches right—" Toboe took a sharp intake of breath when Tsume pushed harder and deeper. "—now."

A smile carved its way on Tsume's lips. "I'd say go lie in a hot bath to relax your muscles, but the hot water tank is empty since I haven't been here in a while. Although, you can go sit under the small falls, the fast current will make it seem like a massage."

"Why can't you massage me instead—" Toboe became a flaming shade of scarlet when he realized what he just said and the fact that he could see Tsume's reflection smiling at him only made it worse.

"I'd gladly give you a massage, Toboe, but I should unpack our stuff first. There should be towels in the bathroom, second door on the right once you've left the room."

Toboe nodded frantically as he spun around Tsume and out of the room in a hurry, not bothering to look back. The man kept on smiling as he saw the boy running towards the river through the window.

God knows why he loved to tease the boy. Maybe it was because of his sexual orientation. It had never been the topic of his thoughts until now. There was no point really, since his job kind of kept him from having any serious relationships, or any for that matter. What was he anyway? Straight, gay, bisexual? _Ya're obviously gay 'cause ya love 'im, _Arashi's voice echoed in his head, but he ignored it. There was probably only physical attraction going one between them. Sometimes women think other women are beautiful and it even happens that some men find other men good-looking, but it does not mean that they want to have a relationship with the person in question and even less sleep with him or her.

"I must be one of those people," he thought aloud. _Nah, ya love 'im, just admit it. Ya love everything 'bout 'im, especially 'is voice. _The sound of Toboe's moan suddenly came to his mind and his leather pants felt rather uncomfortable. "Or not…" he chuckled.

* * *

Toboe sighed as he sat under the falls. He was expecting the water to be much colder, but it was surprisingly warm for that time of the season. It was exactly at the right temperature to ease the knots in his muscles and to calm him down. He could not believe that Tsume could get him so excited only by massaging his shoulders. It's not like he was complaining, on the contrary it felt _really _good. _I wonder how it would feel if he massaged elsewhere… _Toboe plunged his burning face underwater to try to supress _those_ kind of thoughts from going any further. It was hard for him to believe that such feelings were lingering in his mind, especially because it was caused by another man.

His head resurfaced and he took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the falls on his shoulders.

"Feel better?" Tsume asked.

Toboe jumped at the man's voice, unconsciously covering himself. "Wh-What are you doing here?" It was such a stupid question, but it was the first thing that came into his nervous mind.

"What does it look like? I told you there was no water, right? And I carried your most heavy bags as well as my _only one_, so I came to relax too. Got a problem with that?"

Toboe noted that there was only a small towel around the man's waist, so little that a faint breeze would sufice to reveal everything underneath. Toboe closed his eyes and shook his head frantically, partly to hid his blushing face. He heard a splash, only meaning that Tsume was now in the water with him. _Why am I so shy about seeing Tsume's body… and what's up with me hidding myself?! We're both guys, so there shouldn't be a problem._

"Why're you acting so shyly, Toboe?" the man whispered in his ear.

The boy started and pushed the man a little further. _Did he just read my mind?_ "Haven't you ever heard of the expression 'too close for comfort'?"

"Of course I have, but it's no fun to apply it."

Toboe glared into Tsume's golden eyes and turned away from him. The man smiled as he examined the boy's back; it was slender, but he could tell that there was some muscle under his creamy skin.

Toboe felt warm hands grab his shoulders and sighed when they began to massag his aching body. Tsume dug his thumbs into Toboe'sback and the latter moaned, not caring in the least about the embarassing sounds—delightful to Tsume's ears—that he was making. The brunet leaned forwards to give the man better access to his lower back. That was the place where it hurt the most. He had no idea how or when Tsume learned to massag like that, but he did not care and felt no need to find out.

The tanned man breathed deeply to try and keep himself under control, to try to calm down his impulses. If Toboe kept making such arousing noises, he would not be able to restrain himself from jumping the boy. He knew that all he had to do was stop massaging him, but there was no way he was going to pull his hands away from Toboe's perfect skin.

"Tsume," the boy moaned. "A little, ngh, lower."

The man obliged with a smile. His fingers found the boy's sore spot right above his tailbone and Toboe gasped. "Oh God…"

_That's it!_ Tsume spun the boy around and sat him on his lap. Toboe stared at him confusedly.

"Tsume?" he murmured as said man's hands travelled up his sides to rest under his chin and behind his neck. Toboe blushed at the proximity of their faces, their noses were almost touching and he could feel the man's warm breath on his face. Tsume's eyes lowered to the boy's lips. How much he wanted to capture them in his, to abuse them until they turned red.

"Tsume—AHH!" The boy suddenly bucked his hips forward as he let out a yelp, almost pulling a groan from Tsume at the friction. "What the…" the boy muttered to himself. "God that hurt…"

Tsume shook the lust out of his head at those words. His eyes dropped to Toboe's neck. He did not bite down that hard, so there was no blood, not even teeth marks. "Did I hurt you, Toboe?" he asked just to make sure.

He shook his head. "N-No," he mumbled as he held his backside. "What y-you did f-felt good—" Tsume sighed inwardly in relief, "—but I think s-something b-bit me, 'cause my rear _really_ hurts right n-now…"

The man frowned as he carefully lift Toboe out of the water to look at the spot he was holding. "Let me see." The boy obliged and removed his hands to let Tsume inspect his sore. It was not anything too serious, but the man could tell that it was painful since the skin was already starting to bruise. He smiled as he recognized the markin. "I didn't know they came so high," he chuckled.

"W-What?"

"The snapping turtles. I thought the current was too strong up here for them, but I've been proven wrong."

"Y-You're telling me that a t-turtle did this to m-me?"

Tsume nodded as he picked Toboe up, making sure not to accidently touch his bruise. He picked up one of the towels and put it over Toboe, hidding the object of Tsume's distraction. It was an understatement to say that Tsume was extremely annoyed about the interruption, but he had to admit that it was a little funny that the boy was bitten on his rear of all places, although it could have been worse… God knew when there would be another opportunity like that with Toboe.

"You don't have to hold me so tightly, Toboe."

"Yes, I do. If I don't you'll drop me."

Tsume quirked a brow. "It's nice to see you trust me," he said sarcastically.

"Well, you've done it before, so…"

The tanned man rolled his eyes. "That time I did it on purpose and besides, I caught you, didn't I?"

As the man walked up the stairs to the second floor, Toboe remained silent, but lessened his grip a little to Tsume's relief. It did not seem like it, judging by the size of his slim body, but Toboe was fairly strong.

"I'm guessing you don't want to lay on your back?"

"Yes, of course I do."

Tsume gently placed the boy on his stomach on the bed

"Why does it sting so much…" the boy mumbled.

"The turtle didn't even bite through your skin. It's going ti leave one hell of a bruise though," he said as he brushed his fingers over the red mark.

"It didn't?"

"No, so there's nothing I can put on it to make it heal faster." Tsume was talking semi-consciously. His eyes scanned the boy's bear back and rear, engraving the image in his mind in case…

"Are you sure?"

Tsume jumped out of his dirty thoughts at those words and grinned as he registered what Toboe said. "Well… there is _one_ thing…"

Toboe felt the weight of the bed shift under him. He tried to glance over his shoulder, but his head did not turn very far before he gasped as he felt something soft and warm on his bruising skin. It did not take him long before he identified the soemthing as the man's lips and the realization made him blush madly.

"Ts-Tsume! W-What are y-you d-doing?!"

"What does it look like?" he asked seductively, their eyes meeting.

The intense lust-filled gaze Toboe received from the tanned man made his body shiver. "Y-You're… k-kissing it b-better?"

"Exactly, a few kisses on your cheeks won't hurt."

Toboe would have laughed at the pun if it weren't for Tsume's hands brushing along the sides of his legs, sending shivers throughout his body and causing him to bite down on his lip.

"But it's not just your bruise," he chuckled as his fingers brushed along the sides of the boy's hips. "I'll make the rest of you feel better too."

That said, he lay his lips on the reddened skin again, pulling a moan from the boy. The man's hand travelled up to his right cheek and squeezed it gently, all the whil sucking around the brunette's bruise. The boy could not believe the embarassin sounds—delightful to Tsume's ears—he was making, considering how little the man was actually doing. All his blood was rushing between his legs and it hurt because he was laying on his stomach.

As if Tsume read his thoughts, he put his arm under Toboe to turn him onto his back. The boy could no longer feel his aches and bruising skin, all was numb with pleasure. Tsume's face was inches from his, so much that he could feel the heat radiating from the man. A hand slide under his head and pulled him up so their foreheads touched. Toboe could now feel the man's hot breath brushing against his face.

"If I keep going I won't be able to stop," Tsume whispered.

Toboe smiled faintly. "I know."

The boy wrapped his arms around the man's neck and pulled him closer, their lips crashing together into a heated and passionate kiss. Tsume grabbed the boy's hair, pushing him as much as he could against him to deepen the kiss. Toboe nipped at the bottom of his lip and the man internally chuckled. _He's not as submissive as he looks_. He opened his mouth enough for the boy's tongue to enter and explore. It was akward at first, but it did not take long for their msucles to contract and dance around one another blissfully. Tsume tasted like cinnamon, spicy and giving his mouth a tingly sensation.

They parted for their much needed air, but the boy was panting much more than the older man. It showed that Toboe was not used to this, but it was quite obvious that Tsume was. The boy tried to not think about it too much. The man smiled before he dived down once more, this time dominating the kiss easily, not that the boy minded. Tsume planted one last kiss on the boy's lips before travelling to his neck and shoulders, not hesitating in the least to drown himself into that flesh, leaving his mark with every single touch and caress as he did.

"Ts… Tsume…" Toboe uttered. These sensations were foreign to him, but he couldn't deny how his body was reacting. He moaned and panted under the touches, tilting his head to the side to give the man better access. He could not understand that he was willing to do such things with a man he just met. There was just something about him, something about _them_ that felt right, but there was still…

"Ah!" He let out another gasp as he felt the warmth of the elder man's flesh rubbing on his own. The ecstasy was too much, yet he felt like he wanted more. "Tsume," he wheezed as he grasped the man's broad shoulders.

His hands traveled down the boys thighs to the knees where he forced them apart. Toboe shuddered at the sight, his heart racing like crazy. He clutched the sheets rather tightly, not knowing whether to embrace the man or push him away.

"Nn!" Toboe shuddered in pleasure as the man bite one of his nipples, toying the other one with his hand. The sensation was over-powering his thoughts, every fiber of his being. He no longer had any control what so ever over his body. Tears collected at the corners of his eyes and he let out a faint sob. Faint as it may be, Tsume heard it and immediately ceased what he was doing to look in Toboe's eyes with concern.

"Are you alright, Toboe? Did I hurt you?" He shook his head. "Then what's wrong?"

"… Tsume, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Toboe. What is it?"

"Are you… Are you doing this because of how you feel for me or… because you were… asked to?"

Tsume's blood froze, but his face remained calm. "What do you mean asked to? If you mean Arashi, then—"

"No," the boy interrupted in a sad whisper. "I mean your job…"

Tsume pondered if he should let the boy know about it. He never actually talked about what he did for a living, so maybe Toboe guessed? But then again, he could be asking because he felt insecure about going so far with someone he just met.

Understanding suddenly hit him in the face like a truck. The boy heard him talking to Dawn on their way to the loghouse. That was why he woke up with tears in his eyes, because he thought he could trust the man, but was betrayed in the end. Why hadn't he run away? Why hadn't he said anything sooner? Maybe… He could lie, pretend to not know what the boy was talking about, but Toboe was a smart kid. He would figure it out right away and besides, he already knew. He sighed as he kissed the rim of the boy's teary eye. "No, I'm not."

Toboe looked up at Tsume, his eyes glazed over by tears. The man lay another butterfly kiss on his nose. "I wish from the bottom of my heart that you'll believe me when I say that it's purely because fo my feelings."

A lone tear escaped his eye. "Tsume!" he cried as he threw his arms around the man's neck, planting another deep and passionate kiss on his lips. The man was surprised at the reaction, but liked it none the less. He wrapped one arm around the small waist in return, the other for support. Their lips parted for a brief second then they crashed together once again. Tsume laid the boy on his back again and ran his hand through his long silky hair.

"Mmm," he moaned as he felt Toboe's leg rubbing against his erection and unconsciously leaned into the touch. The boy parted from the man again and looked into the depths of his golden orbs. Tsume smiled before gently planting soft kisses on his stomach, trailing downwards. Everywhere the man touched, it felt as though his body was on fire, every carress causing the butterflies in his stomach to flock maddly.

"You're still a virgin, right?"

"Ngh… yeah…" the boy moaned.

"And you've never touched yourself either, right?" Toboe nodded. "Then this'll feel good."

Tsume stuck out his tongue to give Toboe's erection a painfully slow lick. The boy shivered at the touch and…

"AAH!" Toboe shuddered with pure pleasure as he felt the man's mouth upon him, taking him in, wrapping him in a wet and blissful heat. He bucked his hips upwards wanting more of the delicious mouth, but Tsume held him down firmly with his strong hands. Tsume glanced up at Toboe before he dipped his head down again, taking more of him into his mouth, sticking his tongue out on one side to swirl it around.

"I can't believe you're already this hard," Tsume murmured against Toboe's skin.

The boy moaned at the vibration. "It's… u-understandable, when s-someone l-like y-you is d-doing it…"

The man smiled as he alternated between gentle and rough sucking as his hand continued to tease the boy's nipple. He wanted Tsume to do more. Correction; he _needed_ more of Tsume, but he felt embarassed to say anything. He threaded his free hand through Tsume's hair, trying to get his hot, enticing mouth to take in more of his length. The man obliged to the silent request, dipping his head down and swirling his tongue around the skin once more. Tsume slowly freed the boy's abused nipple and began to stroke him lightly, pulling a loud moan from him. Toboe dug his nails into the man's back and immediately regreted it.

"S-Sorry, Ts-Tsume," he tried to say in a calm voice, but failed desperately.

Tsume grinned. "I should be the one apologizing, Toboe. _I_'m the one torturing you right now." The boy had to agree with him on that. The only thing that was missing was the shuckles to make this real torture. He did not know what he would have done if he had no use over his hands. It was already bad enough that his body had completely surrendered to Tsume's touch. The man slowly unwrapped Toboe's arms from around him and moved his head downwards to continue his previous _activities_. Toboe clamped his hand over his mouth, trying with all his might not to moan.

Tsume smiled, moving down Toboe's length again as he hummed very quietly, sucking hard, hoping that he could pull another sound out of the boy. Toboe automatically jerked his hips up as he felt the vibrations from Tsume's lips. He closed his eyes as the feeling brought him closer and closer to his pinnacle of satisfaction. Toboe fisted the sheets as could take Tsume's torture no longer.

"Ts-Tsume, I… Ahh!" White liquid spurted in Tsume's mouth. Toboe's breathing was jagged and his heart was beating many miles per hour. Tsume swallowed what was already in his mouth and leaned over to gently kiss Toboe, letting him taste a bit of the liquid. The boy pulled back as he desperately needed the air. Toboe gaze into the man's golden ones. He had never seen Tsume look the way he did right now. The sight was just… wow. The lust and desire was evident in the man's eyes as well as the need to satisfy this intense craving.

"How do you feel?" he asked in the most seductive voice Toboe had ever heard.

"N-Never… been… b-better," he tried to answer between huffs. Tsume had to smile at the answer and laid another deep kiss on his soft lips, then trailed down to his stomach to lick up most of the remaining sticky fluid. The rest he smeared over his fingers as Toboe watched him curiously. "What're you… doing…?"

Tsume chuckled. "I didn't think I'd go this far tonight, but… looks like I've reached my limit." His strong hands inched up Toboe's thigh and caressed that part of him that would soon become his. "Toboe…" he uttered coarsely, rubbing that narrow opening with his fingers.

"Ts… Tsume!!" Toboe jolted in surprise at the intrusion.

"You are not a woman, Toboe…" he spoke. "But I can embrace you as if you were one."

"N-No," he stammered nervously; his voice unable to deny that he himself craved for it even though he was exhausted. "I… I can't do it… I'm not…"

Tsume pulled his fingers away from the boy's opening and hugged him. But it was not your everyday hug, it was full of warmth and understanding. "I know you're scarred, Toboe, but you need to trust me on this one. I haven't hurt you so far, have I?" The boy shook his head. "That's because I don't want to. You're too precious to me to do such a thing." Tsume slowly spread the boy's legs open with one hand. "Although I must admit that this will hurt a bit, but I'll give you all the time you need to adjust, alright?" Toboe nodded and Tsume slowly slid a first finger into his opening. He watched Toboe's reaction to make sure that he was okay before his pulled it out almost all the way before pushing it back in again, hard.

"Ngh!" Came a shudder from Toboe as Tsume added a finger, scissoring his opening and stroking him inside. The boy gasped as he held on tightly to Tsume, his body contorting a little in pleasure and trying to get used to the feeling of something inside him. Tsume was right, it did hurt a bit, but strangely enough, Toboe _liked_ that kind of pain. It felt too good for him not to enjoy it.

The man let the boy adjust some more before he added another finger despite his slight discomfort. "Tell me when you're ready, Toboe," he breathed on the boy's neck, kissing the soft spot just underneath his ear. Toboe gasped again and spread his legs open even more.

"Tsume, I… I'm ready… just do it…" he said exasperatedly, looking up at Tsume. Said man kissed him passionately as he lifted one of the boy's legs.

"Are you sure you're ready?"

The boy nodded, he wanted the man so baddly. Tsume pushed the head of his member into Toboe and the latter shuddered a little, a tear cornering the edge of his eye. The man kissed it away as he pushed the rest of his shaft in. Toboe cried out as he writhed with the feeling of being violated, eyes shooting wide open in pain. The sensation was unlike any he had encountered before. It hurt much more than a few fingers. Tsume was also bigger than he expected him to be.

"Ts-Tsume, it hurts," he cried.

"Shh, it's okay," he hushed into his ear as his ran his fingers through his hair.

"N-No, it really hurts. I… t-take it out…"

"Toboe, the pain will go away soon, don't worry." No matter how much he wanted to just slam right back into the boy's tight entrance, he would not keep going until he was ready.

"No, it won't! Tsume, please!" The boy was crying now, the pain was too much. His muscles were stretching more than they should.

_He's panicking, _the man thought. Reassuring him would not be enough anymore. Tsume wrapped his arms around the boys shoulder in a tight embrace. "I'm gonna move."

"No! Don't, please don't! Tsume stop!" The man pulled out. "Please, don't—AH!" he moaned as his hips bucked upwards as Tsume hit _that_ spot. "Do that… again…" he panted.

Tsume smiled, thanking whoever was up there that he had good aim. "In due time, Toboe."

Toboe moaned as a way of expressing his new found need and the man understood. Without further hesitation, he continued to move, driving himself deeper and deeper into Toboe's tight heat.

"AAH! Ngh! Ah…!" Toboe's voice echoed throughout the room. He was making sounds he had no idea he could do. "Tsu… me…" he moaned. Tsume smirked in satisfaction as sweat dripped from his forehead. He put more motion into his hips. "AAH!!" Tears began to rim at his eyes. With every thrust Tsume gave, his body arched upwards accepting every bit and every inch of the man. He subconsciously wrapped his arms tighter around him; his fingers digging deeply into the elder man's shoulder blades as much as his heels did so in is back. Just as Tsume has left his mark on the young boy's chest, neck and collarbone, Toboe left his own mark on the man's back.

The bed shifted uncontrollably and the head board smashed violently against the wall with every rapid change of their movement. Toboe found that sex was hot and messy, but it was worth it. And Toboe could not deny this pleasure. It's what he wanted, probably ever since the day he layed eyes on the man. He let the tears fall down his face, but they weren't of sadness because he felt far from sad.

"Crying?" Tsume muttered, noticing the boy's tears and also that they were not because he was in any pain what so ever. "That's right, Cry knowing you belong to me and only me. Don't… let anyone else… touch you like this…" he whispered coarsely as he drove himself deeper with every thrust, relishing in the young boy's heat.

"Tsume…" Toboe wailed as he completely surrendered his entire being to this man. Nothing else mattered to him anymore. As long as he was with him, he would face any challenge that would come his way. "Tsume…" he panted.

The man smirked, loving the way Toboe said his name, clinging on tightly to the young boy as if not wanting to let go. As if the boy would disappear if he let go…

As Toboe dwelled in the passion and pleasure, his mind could not stop reminding him of what had been revealed to him. For all he knew, Tsume lied flat out to him.

"Ahh! Tsume!"

No, there was no way it could be. It was impossible for someone to fake such passion and lust. That is what he believed. And before things would get complicated, he wanted to give everything he had to the one most precious to him. Toboe covered his face with his hands, but Tsume immediately removed them.

"Don't… Ngh… Look at me… Ahh…!!"

"No, Toboe… Don't hide your… Nn… Beatiful face from me… I… want to see you… like this…"

"Ah… Ngh… Tsu… me…"

"Toboe…"

"Ts… Tsume…! Ugh… Ah…!"

The heat that had built up inside them became unbearable that it needed to be released soon. Their movements hastened in pace, pushing them beyond their own limits.

"Toboe… I'm…"

"AAAAAHHH!!"

Their vision blurred, and everything turned white. Both collapsed back on the bed, panting and heavily out of breath. Sleep dared to take over them as exhaustion overwhelmed their bodies. The moonlight continued to cast dark shadows into the room, perhaps signaling the horrible things that were about to happen. Tsume smiled as he slowly pushed away the stray strands that stuck to the boy porcelaine face. Toboe curled up against Tsume's warm chest, letting the rythme of his heartbeat hum him to sleep like a sweet melody.

* * *

_Clx_ : Ne, ne, how was the lemon? You likey?

_Amx_ : It's the reason this chapter's a little longer than the other's.

_Clx_ : Short lemon's aren't always that great—

_Amx_ : And we wanted ours to be as good as possible, so…

_Clx_ : Stay tuned for the next chapter, another important event is going to happen.

_Amx_ : It involves Tsume, Toboe, Arashi and Sora.

_Clx_ : We haven't met Sora yet, but I hope you'll like him. :3

_Amx_ : We drew him the other day… God, was his hair ever a NIHTMARE to draw!!

_Clx_ : We'll do a lineart at some point and put it on DeviantArt.

_Amx_ : When we do, we'll give you guys the link.

_Clx_ : But we'll put Arashi and Sora up at the same time.

_Amx_ : Arashi was fun to draw.

_Clx_ : If you want a bit of an idea of what they look like, you can check our DA account and look at the pictures of our dogs lol.

_Amx_ : Arashi is Storm, and Sora is Sky, for those who hadnt figured it out yet.

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**Please Rate and Review :3**


	10. Big Guns

_Clx_ : Gomenasai for taking so long again T^T

_Amx_ : Okay, the apologizing at the beginning of every chapter is really getting on my nerves…

_Clx_ : But—

_Amx_ : No ! *inhales, exhales* Anyway, another chapter's finally up, but I'm a little pissed about the contents…

_Clx_ : It's been two chapters that we've been meaning to put a REALLY super duper important part, but the chapters would be too long !

_Amx_ : So I guess we kinda lied to you Loveless-baka-deshi

_Clx_ : We told you the reason it was taking so long was because of the important part… gomen…

_Amx_ : But it's definitely gonna be in the next chapter, or else it'd be stupid

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**Becauseimthefavorite** : Thanks :P I haven't uploaded the drawings yet… shame on me xD

**Lovelessotaku03** : I know, I know ! Dx

I suck at updating fast lol xD

But I found out the other day that I get lots of inspiration while I'm in class :O

It's probably 'cause I'd rather be writing than listening to the teacher LOL xD

I know, right ? My mind was in the gutter while I was writing it and I knew it wasn't actually true lol xD

Yeah, it's sorta my dream house I guess you could say

We've been to lots of places so it's like a mix of my favorite hotels and chalets :P

Haha, I didn't know that xD Amx left me in charge for the fluff I suppose xD

She had all the fun killing Kaito lol

1. Yes, this is my first time writing a lemon lol xD

2. I dunno, maybe it's 'cause I read fics, doujinshis and yaoi mangas so much xD

LOL xD I had to put some humor in there, that's just the way I do things *pun not intended lol*

It's okay, I forgive 'cause I'm guilty of fangirling every once and a while xD

Thanks so much Loveless-chan ! (L)

**Vicky Chain** : ROFL xD Thanks for reviewing yet again :)

Sorry… I kinda failed at updating soon _

**Luna's Kin** : Haha lol, Thanks so much =D

**I'm At My All Time Low** : Yeah basically, you should try it sometime… LOL xD

That was the intention lol, turtles are such mood killers (I know from experience, except me it didn't end up in sex LOL xD)

**FirexxxFox** : Wow O///O Thanks ! *hugs*

**Toumies** : Merci beaucoup lol xD

La prochaine fois tu peut commenter en francais si tu veux :P

Je suis d'accord avec toi, en francais ya pas grand chose pour Wolf's Rain, surtout des yaoi de Tsume pis Toboe _

LOL xD Ya aussi, overjoyed, excited, ecstatic, glad, pleased, joyful, pis je pourrais continuer encore plus lol xD  
Je souhaite que tu va aimer mes prochains chapitres, sinon, ben sinon c plate lol xD

Avant meme que tu me le demande javais lintention de traduire mon histoire après lavoir completer :)

Et ton anglais n'est pas si mal que ca xD

**Melissa Brite** : Thanks :).

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**Thank you so much to my current and future reviewers, subscribers and favoriters =D**

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Tsukasa groaned as the god forsaken alarm clock woke him up cruelly. Why did he even buy it in the first place? It was such an annoying sound; it would get on anyone's nerves. Maybe that was why he was always in such a bad mood while he was teaching. Who cared anyway? Not him, that's for sure.

He ripped the alarm's cord out of the wall almost breaking the already fragile cable. The television turned on as he got out of bed like every morning.

"_Coming live from the Stellar River…"_

Have breakfast, take a shower get dressed and leave after setting the alarm, that's consisted the few hours he had before he had to leave for work. There was rarely anything interesting on the news, but he had to stay informed in some way.

"… _a body has been found and from what our sources tell us…"_

All he ever did after classes was clean up after Dawn's messes. It was such a pain, but working for her had its advantages, such as the horrendous amount of money he was paid weekly.

"… _it has not been here for more than 48 hours…"_

He gave a heavy sigh as he opened the fridge to try and find something to eat. You'd think that with the pile of money in his hands that he'd be able to fill it, but he just never thought about it.

"… _the body resembles that of a man in his late twenties…"_

Tsukasa sighed. _Yet another murder I see…_ His eyes diverted to the television's screen briefly and froze at the image on it. He ran across the room to the remote and rewound the report, pausing it at the image of the man brought out of the water.

"K… K-Kaito?!" he screamed. His eyes stung a little, but no tears fell. He was not one to show his emotions, but his brother had just… His knees felt numb under him and he fell onto the sofa behind him. His eyes remained wide open, a stupefied gaze in them. It did not take long for him to figure who committed this crime. A deep frown appeared on his face as he grit his teeth. "_Tsume…_"

* * *

As a great variety of birds' melodious chants and as the first rays of light shone into the bedroom were the causes for the disturbance in Toboe's deep and content slumber. His whole being as well as his soul were at peace. The feeling was so new to him that it felt surreal. He actually forgot were he was and when it was for a brief moment until he remembered with whom he was. Said whom was the reason for his well-being.

Tsume was still sound asleep, the shadow of a smile cornering his lips. The lips that made the boy feel wanted. The lips that touched his whole body all night long. The lips that kissed away all of his deepest fears. The lips that belonged solely to him and no one else.

Toboe smiled as he sniggled closer into the man's comforting warmth, not wanting to wake him right away. But he instantly found that Tsume was no longer sleeping, hearing his heart beats slightly increase in rhythm as Toboe got closer. The man's strong arms tightened aver so slightly around his small frame, making the faintest shade of pink color his cheeks.

"Good morning," Toboe whispered.

"'Morning," Tsume murmured as his kissed his head.

The boy leaned into the touch, practically purring as he did so. It was not the first time they woke together, but they both knew that this time, as well as the following ones, were far different from the others. Toboe admitted that he liked Tsume and judging by the turn of events, the feeling was mutual. Tsume ran his fingers through Toboe's hair as the latter ran his over the man's chest.

"How do you feel, Toboe?"

"_Very_ good." The boy teasingly pushed his legs between Tsume's legs, pulling a low moan from him. "You?"

The man pondered on it for a moment. "I'd go with drugged." Tsume raised the brunette's chin, gazing into the depths of his amber eyes. "Who needs morphine when you've got your own _personal_ pain reliever?"

Toboe smiled embarrassedly as he nipped at the man's lower lip, demanding him to kiss back. Tsume obliged, laying his lips on the boy's. It was brief and gentle, but passionate nonetheless.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?"

"Well," Tsume started as he ran his hand along Toboe's side. "Last night was your first time, you should be a little sensitive… down here," he whispered the last as he squeezed the boy's rear.

Toboe gave the man a look. "Don't flatter yourself, Tsume. It wasn't that hard to handle."

The man rolled his eyes. _Says the boy who was screaming for me to stop_. Tsume laid another chaste kiss on the boy's lips before slipping out of the bed. His arms stretched high into the air, the movement of his muscles carefully being watched by Toboe's admiring gaze.

"Can you stand up?"

The boy gave him a pout as he put his feet on the cold wooden floor. "Of course I can!" Toboe stood up and a sudden pain shot from his backside all the wall up his spine, causing him to fall back on the bed—which did not help his case.

"You sure about that?" Tsume mocked.

"Shut up…"

The man eyes Toboe and the latter did the same. After a brief moment of silence, they laughed whole heartedly. Tsume held out his hand to Toboe to help him up and lead him to the bathroom. "Clean yourself up, you're all messed up."

"And whose fault is that?" the boy mocked.

Tsume ruffled Toboe's hair with a wide grin. "All mine and I assume all the responsibility for doing it."

Toboe blushed as he pushed the laughing man out of the room. "Go get some fresh towels already!"

The door slammed shut and he leaned against it, catching his breath. The butterflies in his stomach were flocking around madly.

The bathroom was just a beautiful as the rest of the house—or at least what he saw of it. It was spacious and a large mirror was mounted on the whole right wall, making it seem as though the room was twice it's actual size. Toboe slid the glass door open and stepped into the ceramic covered shower. There was no shower head, only small openings in the ceiling. When he turned the faucet, it felt as though it was raining.

The boy looked about him. He felt so small in such a vast place. _What's with Tsume and big th—_ Toboe blushed at the thought.

"You were just thinking about me, weren't you?" Tsume blew in his ear.

The brunet jumped at the man's voice. _When did he get in here?_

"Tsume!" he shouted as he hit said man's arm. "God, don't scare me like that!"

"Hn, no matter how many times you'll repeat it I won't stop," he smirked.

The boy's cheeks reddened at the double meaning. Tsume stepped in beside him as he picked up the soap and lathered it over the boy's back, giving him another massage in the process. Toboe moaned as the knots in his muscles were kneaded away.

"If you don't stop making such sounds I won't be able to keep from taking you again."

"What if I want you to?" Toboe murmured shyly.

Tsume smiled. "Then don't stop."

The brunette gasped as the man bite down in the crook of his neck, toying with his nipples. Toboe kissed the man's arm as he found his throbbing member. Tsume grinned.

"Someone's awfully excited."

"Who wouldn't… with someone l-like…y-you touching… them?"

The man chuckled as he squeezed the bottom of the boy's shaft. Toboe's hips bucked into the touch, his arms shooting for the wall for some kind of support. Tsume snaked his other arm around the boy's own to hold him up, still teasing his now red nubs.

"Tsume, I can't… l-last much… longer," Toboe panted as his nails dug into the ceramic.

"You're still sensitive from yesterday, it's understandable," he whispered lustfully all the while stroking the boy faster and harder.

"Ah… ngh…"

"Scream my name, Toboe."

The man's deep seductive voice and the member brushing against his entrance pushed Toboe over the edge. "Ah, Tsume!"

"Oi, Tsume! Are ya th—"

Their heads snapped towards the slammed open door. Arashi's surprise filled copper eyes blinked from Tsume to Toboe and a smile slowly spread across his face from ear to ear. "Yo, Toboe! 'Thought I heard ya in here."

A vein or two popped in Tsume's forehead. "If you knew he was in here, why'd you come in you stupid_ fucking_ moron," he growled venomously.

"Curiosity kills the cat, Tsume, not the dog," Arashi smiled.

"_We'll see about that._"

The teen ran out of the room before Tsume could get too close. "Oi, Sora! I found them!"

Tsume's knuckles cracked as his fists clenched. "He's going to _pay_ for _this_."

Toboe's wide eyes fell to the man's still painfully erect member. Tsume put a towel around the boy then himself.

"Ne, Sora," Arashi's loud voice said from the first floor. "They're together, ya owe me 1k!"

"He is _dead meat_," the man growled under his breath.

Toboe sank to the floor as Tsume stormed out of the room, pulling the towel over his head and face in complete embarrassment, desperately hiding his furiously red cheeks and ears.

* * *

Tsume sat on the couch, arms and legs crossed. Anyone with a little common sense could be able to tell—either because of the tense atmosphere or because of Tsume's frowned brow's constant twitching—that he was beyond pissed. If it were not for Sora, Arashi would have been beaten to a pulp. The blonde did not get how Arashi could just barge into the house knowing that they were probably _busy_, especially since they both fairly well knew how Tsume's temper was.

The smiling teen sat on the farthest seat from the fuming man—a great precaution suggested by none other than Sora. Every once and a while, Arashi would flash a smile at the blonde and the latter could do nothing but roll his eyes. The idiot wore an "I told you so" expression and Sora was too, but not for the same reasons. He was not completely sure as to why he agreed to bet one thousand dollars on the chances of Tsume and Toboe being together once they arrived since he knew he was going to lose the bet. Maybe it was for the entertainment. He had to admit it amused him somewhat when Tsume got angry, but he would never let him know that.

A long time ago he learned to stay on people's good sides and others knew it was a prudent decision to avoid his bad side. Sora did not look like much of a thug, but once he got angry it was not a pretty sight. It was hard for him to hate people though, even his enemies. He would not despise them, but pity them instead. Only God knew why he had such a kind heart and why others felt no need to hurt him. Even the women and few men he conned in the past who found out about it never did anything to him. He was just that kind of person; the kind that no matter what he does, you can't bring yourself to get angry with him.

"Ne, Tsume, why ain't ya lil' cutie comin' downstairs?" Arashi suddenly asked.

Sora felt like slapping the idiot. It was so obvious that he intended to give that sentence a double meaning. _At least be more subtle about it, baka._

Tsume's eyes slowly found Arashi's and his pupils slit to those of a beast. "Why do you think, you moron," his voice was dripping with the thirst to kill.

"I dunno."

_Shut up, Arashi,_ Sora begged.

Tsume's head turned towards the teen as his glare deepened. "You _don't_ know? How can you possibly not know?!"

"I only walked in on ya guys, no biggie."

_You babbling idiot…_

"No biggie?! How the fuck is that not a big deal?!" Tsume stood and Sora readied himself to interfere at any time.

"Hmm, well it might'a been big for cutie I guess."

_You had to add "I guess", didn't you?_

"That's it! You're dead, Arashi!"

Tsume pounced towards the teen and Sora stopped him moments before his fist could do any damage, maybe even his fangs by the looks of it. Arashi jumped off the chair and walked a few steps back.

"Ne, Sora? Do ya think ya could hold 'im like that a lil' longer? I'm gonna go get me some cutie pie." Arashi gave one last wink to the man before running towards the stairs. Tsume tried to push Sora out of his way, but the latter insisted that there was no point in trying to stop the idiotic teen, saying that Toboe would have to come down eventually anyway.

The man growled as he brushed the blonde's hand off him and sat down in his chair impatiently. Sora sighed in relief, it was never easy keeping him under control, but he always managed in the end somewhat.

Not a sound could be heard throughout the whole house, with the exception of Tsume's annoyed heavy breathing which was not a good sign. Usually Arashi was very loud when he was at work or doing something. Well, every time he opened his mouth it was like that. There was a slight possibility that he was trying to be as calm as possible as to not scare or embarrass Toboe more than he already was, but—

"Come on, Toboe! There's no point in bein' shy! Everyone's waitin' for ya downstairs!"

Tsume groaned as the shadow of a smiled cornered Sora's lips.

"Go away!" They heard Toboe shout from upstairs.

"Aww, don' be like that, cutie—"

"Don't call me that!"

"Why not? It suits you well, cutie. Let's get you dressed."

"Hey, wait! Where are you—get your hands off me!"

Tsume was fuming. Not only was Arashi embarrassing Toboe more than he needed to, but he was also touching the body that belonged to _him_. A loud crash came from upstairs and Toboe came running down, immediately curling up at Tsume's side. His hair was still a little damp, but he was dressed at least, even though Tsume hated the thought that it was thanks to Arashi.

The tanned teen came walking down with a slight limp and clutching at his head "Ne, Tsume, ya lil' cutie there has a lil' fight in 'im."

"Stop calling me that," Toboe mumbled.

Tsume smiled as he stretched his arm around the boy's shoulders. His small body automatically leaned in closer for protection. The man lowered his mouth to his ear and whispered: "He does have a point though, you are cute."

Toboe blushed a little as he playfully hit Tsume's chest. Somehow, he did not mind in the least when Tsume called him like that. Sora smiled at the exchange; he was glad that Tsume had finally found someone; the man needed a person like Toboe in his life.

"Damn, cutie, I think ya fractured my skull," Arashi whined as he slumped into the spot beside Sora. "Tha' really hurt!"

"In his defense, you deserved it, idiot," the blonde chuckled.

Toboe suddenly noticed the other man's presence; he had been so quiet when he first came down that he forgot there was someone besides Arashi that arrived at the house. He felt bad for not even remembering his name. His hand tugged at the man's shirt as his eyes stayed on the blonde. Tsume smirked at the boy's shy nature.

"Toboe, this is one of my few good friends: Sora."

"Hey, Toboe," he smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you."

"H-Hi…"

"He's also Arashi's older brother."

"No he's not…" the teen grumbled.  
"I'm a year older than you right now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but only for a day. We're still technically twins!"

"Yeah, but I'm still technically 20 while you're still technically 19," Sora mocked.

Toboe blinked a few times, his eyes diverting from Sora to Arashi as they quarreled. "Um… Tsume?"

"Hn?"

"How can those two be twins if they weren't born the same day?"

"I don't know all the details, but there were complications at their birth and Arashi was born the day after Sora. They never knew their mother, Hana… since she died giving birth to them."

Toboe nodded sadly, the brothers now running after one another, saying something about size. "They're fraternal twins, right? 'Cause they don't have any physical traits in common. Arashi's at least a foot taller than Sora and he's more muscular, even their shape is different. Sora has much more feminine features than Arashi. The only thing that they really have in common is the black in their hair, except it's on the top of Arashi's head and it's underneath Sora's blond hair. Is that even natural?"

Toboe sighed as he rubbed his temples; he was thinking too much again. Tsume ran his hand through the boy's hair, an amused smile across his lips.

"Yeah, they're fraternal twins. Sora looks like their mother… and Arashi looks like he could be their father's twin."

Toboe smiled a little, wondering why Tsume had paused again after talking about Hana. He must have been close to her. He began watching the twins again just before Arashi finally managed to pin his brother down, towering over him and holding his wrists over his head, using only one hand. The tanned teen lowered to whisper something into Sora's ear. The blond blushed as he pushed his brother off him.

"Shut up…" Toboe heard him grumble.

Tsume rolled his eyes, clearly aware of what Arashi said to Sora. Toboe made a mental note to ask Sora later.

"Are we going to get to the point of our coming here?" the blond said with annoyance as he punched Arashi for laughing at some inside joke. "Immature brat…"

"Of course," Tsume answered. "We were only waiting for you guys to cool down."

Arashi jumped up as he ran towards the front door. "I'll go get our gear," he said before disappearing outside.

"I'm gonna get something to drink," Sora grumbled as he dragged his feet across the room towards the kitchen.

Toboe quirked his eyebrow. He had absolutely no clue about what was going on. "Tsume, what gear was Arashi talking about?"

Tsume kissed his forehead. "I should go help him, guns can be really heavy."

Toboe's wide eyes followed Tsume as he left the couch. "G-Guns? For what?!"

The man ignored him with a smile.

"Tsume!"

"Hunting," he chuckled as he exited the room.

Toboe sat motionless, still starring at the are he last saw the man. "Hunting?" he said to himself. "Hunting for what?"

Sora stared blankly at the contents of his glass. _Stupid Arashi and his big mouth… He always manages to get under my skin._ Pink covered his cheeks as he banged his heaed on the table. _I'm the one who's stupid, stupid._

"Sora, can I come in?"

The blonde's head shot up and his blue eyes met amber ones. "Oh, yeah, sure, no problem."

Toboe sat beside him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about stuff, nothing important really," he finished his sentence with a sip of his scotch.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, lay it on me." Sora knew that depending on what was on the boy's mind, the question could be dangerous.

"What are we going to hunt?"

Sora mentally sighed. _Oh, that…_ "Dinner. How do you think you'll survive out here without food? There's nothing in the house but drinks."

"Oh, yeah, right…" Toboe rubbed the back of his head with a smile. He felt a little stupid for not figuring it out himself.

"Besides, Arashi loves it. Don't get me wrong, we don't hunt as a hobby—no matter what Arashi says—it's for survival purposes only and we never kill more than necessary."

Toboe sighed in relief. "What animals are in these woods exactly?"

"There's mostly deer and pheasants here. Occasionally, you might see a falcon or two flying around, but there aren't any major predators that we know of. We've been coming to this place for years, so we practically know these woods like the back of our palms. It's a very peaceful location and it's perfect to get away from everything."

"Are ya guys comin'?" Arashi shouted from the front.

"We'll be there in a second," Sora answered. "You ready?"

The boy nodded, but then remembered something. "Sorry for being a bother, and you don't have to answer, but…"

Sora turned around and eyed the boy suspiciously. "But?"

"What… What did Arashi tell you earlier?"

"Earlier? What are…" A faint blush covered Sora's cheeks. "Oh, _that_…"

The blond seemed to ponder on whether he should tell him or not.

"L-Like I said, you don't have to tell me if you don't—"

Sora put his hands up. "It's okay, you'll find out sooner or later anyway." He looked around nervously before stepping closer to the boy. His blush deepened as he lowered to Toboe's ear. "He said: in the end, size does matter."

* * *

_Clx _: Teehee xD I just love Arashi and Sora 3

_Amx_ : They're our version of the Hitachiin Twins… ours and ours only

_Clx_ : They're the only thing in this fic that bekongs to us… it's sad, so very sad T_T

_Amx_ : Wow, dramatic much?

* * *

**Even though most of you probably want to kill me for taking so long to update, please R&R :3**


	11. Moonlit Howl

_Clx _: OH MY GAAAAAAAAAWD !!! WE'RE THE WORST UPDATERS EVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER !!!!!!!!!! *dies*  
_Amx _: It's not the end of the world baka~ *rolls eyes*  
_Clx _: Yes it is !! People have threatened me to finish it, OR ELSE !!!! D:  
_Amx _: ... Or else what ?  
_Clx _: I dunnoe, but or else never means anything good !! *hides under desk*  
_Amx _: Oh brother...  
_Clx _: Anyway, one of the reasons I took so long to update was 'cause I've been writing this fic from school (no time at home and all...) and it's friggin' french keyboards EVERYWHERE !! So these : "" are like this «» instead and it's bugging the heck outta me 'cause it's an english fic, not a french one !! *goes on rampage*  
_Amx _: *sighs* ... What am I ever going to do with you...

* * *

_**MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you fantastic people out there !!! x)

* * *

**_

Toboe starred blankly ahead, following Tsume close behind. They left the house hours ago and his arms were beginning to feel heavy under the weight of his rifle. He should have stayed behind; his thoughts were not concentrated on hinting at the moment. He was not quite sure what they were about actually, since nothing but a mass of words and images were bouncing around in his head.

«And then the little house hippo fell in love with Pops.»

Toboe blinked confusedly. «Huh?»

«You weren't listening to me, were you?» Tsume chuckled.

The boy smiled sheepishly. «Sorry, what did you say?»

The man rolled his eyes. «I asked you what was on your mind. You seem distracted ever since you met up with us with Sora. Did he tell you something that bothered you?»

Toboe blushed as he fidgeted in place. «Well, it's my fault really. I was the one who asked him to tell me. I even told him that he didn't have to answer, but—»

«Toboe, you're rambling,» the tanned man smiled.

«Right, sorry…» Toboe began walking again, now fiddling with the rifle's gun barrel. «He told me what Arashi whispered to him when he was pinned down.»

«Ah, and from that you figured out just how close they truly are,» Tsume deduced.

«Yeah…» Toboe's blush deepened.

«Are you disgusted about them?»

«What? No, of course not! I'd be a hypocrite if I was, 'because we're both men and we still—»

«Toboe, I meant 'cause they're brothers.»

Tsume laughed at Toboe's pouting expression. «I knew that…»

«Sure you did.»

Tsume suddenly put his arm in front of the boy, motioning him to stay as quiet as possible. «Sorry about that. It was a false alarm. I thought I heard something move.»

They kept on walking, Tsume now fully alert to their surroundings. «So?» he whispered.

«Well… I wasn't sure how to react at first, but I guess it doesn't matter whether they're brothers or not. I know that it's incestuous, but if they're both willing participants in their relationship, it's okay with me. If they were father and son instead of brothers I don't know how I'd react, but there's a strong possibility that I would've been against it. It depends on the way they're related I guess… but even then, when two people love each other, nothing should come in between them, right?»

«Toboe?»

«Yeah?»

The man grabbed the boy's hips with his free arm and pulled him up against his chest, laying his lips on his passionately. Surprised at first, Toboe responded rather quickly, heating up the kiss. The boy dropped his gun to wrap his arms around Tsume's neck, bringing him even closer than he already was. They parted, one panting heavier than the other.

«Not that… I'm… complaining… but where… did that… come from?» Toboe asked between breaths, a blush now covering his cheeks.

«It was my way of agreeing with you.» Tsume leaned down to nip at Toboe's ear lobe. «Nothing should come in between two lovers. We're a good example of that, aren't we?»

Toboe's eyes went wide as their rims filled up with tears and he hid his face in the man's shirt.

«Toboe?» Tsume asked worriedly.

«Sorry, I-I'm just so happy,» the brunette sobbed, whipping his eyes to stop the waterworks before the man was soaked in them.

He believed that they were lovers since they confessed to one another, but neither of them had said it out loud. The feeling was overwhelming and it warmed Toboe's heart as much as it sent butterflies flying madly in his stomach.

Tsume smiled softly, gently kissing Toboe's tears away.

«I love you, Tsume,» the brunette quietly sobbed.

«I love you too, Toboe.»

_Crack!_

Tsume's eyes shot wide open. Something, no, some _things_ were moving between the trees behind Toboe. The footsteps were far heavier than those of a dear. All he knew was that it was a four-legged mammal and it was most likely carnivore. And everyone knew that that was not a good sign when you were in the woods.

«Toboe,» he whispered as lowly as he could with the boy still being able to hear him. «I want you to pick up your rifle as slowly and quietly as you can and turn around. After that, don't move until I tell you to.»

Toboe nodded without questioning Tsume; the man knew what he was doing far more than he probably ever would. Once he followed his instructions to the letter, he dared to ask:

«Why're you being so serious if we're hunting dear?»

«'Cause there's a strong possibility that we're being hunted right now.»

As if to emphasize what Tsume said last, footsteps and growls could be heard. The blood ran cold through Toboe's veins Hadn't Sora confirmed that no predators lived in these woods? The boy knew he had… then why did he see bright yellow eyes starring him down? There was a faint crack not far in front of him and a small brown wolf stepped out.

If it were not for the piercing eyes still glaring at him, Toboe would have looked at Tsume to see if he knew what was happening. The tanned man was just as surprised as he was, maybe even more.

«A wolf?» he breathed.

Tsume's hand tightened on the _GUN's HANDLE_ in case the beast was to pounce at them. It did not seem fully grown yet, so it probably still had a childish personality. Tsume was actually not that worried about the small wolf, he was more concerned about the one behind those fierce yellow eyes glaring so intensely at them.

Toboe felt intrigued by the brown wolf. It was acting so happy, continuously wagging its tail. The boy smiled warmly as he gently lay his gun on the ground.

«Toboe, what're you doing?!» Tsume whispered angrily.

«Don't worry, he won't hurt me.» He advanced a few steps towards the wolf. «Right little guy?»

As if the animal understood him, it walked a little closer to Toboe with joy-filled eyes.

«Toboe, get back here! It's not that one I'm worried about—»

The boy stepped on a branch, filling the with a dry crack. The eyes glancing at them from the darkness thus far glowed angrily before a great grey wolf leaped out of the bushes with it's gleaming white teeth bared. Tsume instinctively pulled Toboe back towards him and his gun was raised in mere seconds. The brown cub yelped as the grey one dragged it out of harm's way by the ruff of its neck.

Tsume glared at the massive wolf as it did so back, protectively growling at them. The man's finger twitched on the trigger.

«Wait!» Toboe jumped in front of the beasts, arms stretched out to the side.

«Get out of the way, Toboe!»

«No! They're not going to hurt us if we leave them alone!»

«How the hell can you be sure of that?!»

«The grey wolf… look at it's chest.»

Toboe stepped aside, revealing the now calm wolves. The grey wolf was licking the smaller one's cheek affectionately as if it were apologizing for hurting it. The brown one rubbed up against the other's chest and Tsume's eyes went wide.

«Is that… a scar?»

The boy nodded. Suddenly, a blinding light filled the woods, causing Tsume and Toboe to cover their eyes. The only thing they could still see were the two wolves. As Tsume's and the grey's eyes met, the latter seemed to grin.

«We've finally found them, runt,» it said.

Both Tsume's and Toboe's eyes went wide, not believing their ears.

The wolves paws slowly disappeared, turning into what seemed to be particles of sparkling yellow light.

«It seems so, Tsume,» the small one chuckled happily.

«Tsume?» The man gasped.

A faint wind blew the remaining of the wolves away as they gave one last howl. Everything became silent and the full moon came out, lighting the clearing in which they were standing. Tsume sighed as he put his hand over his aching scar.

«That was weird,» he mumbled. «Are you alright, Toboe?» No response came from the boy. «Toboe?»

Tsume turned towards him only to find his motionless body laying on the ground.

«Toboe!»

He made one step towards the boy, but he never reached him. His head suddenly felt heavy on his shoulders and his legs gave way under his body. Tsume tried to get up, but it was as if all his strength had left him.

«Damn it…» he growled before falling unconscious.

* * *

The red-head fumed in place, tapping her long claw-like nails on the armrest of her chair. The phone was supposed to ring any minute now, but not a single sound—excluding the unnerving finger tapping—interrupted the heavy silence. _Nothing_.

«Why hasn't he called yet?!» Dawn growled angrily, her fists slamming onto her desk. «He better not be defying my orders or I'll—»

Dragon put his hand on her shoulder with a faint smile. «Don't worry yourself with such trivial matters, Milady. If such an unfortunate event were to occur we can always change targets.»

«No we can't!» she shouted.

The man took a step back at the sudden outburst with a frown.

«Sorry, D.»

He shook his head and his usual kind smile returned to his lips. «There's no need to apologize to the likes of me, Dawn. I am but a mere servant.»

A knock came from the door. «Pardon me for the disturbance, Lady Dawn,» Thunder apologized from the other side. «But your guest has arrived.»

«Alright, let him in,» she commanded as she sunk back into her chair, Dragon standing behind her obediently.

«How have you been Mr. Rogers?» Dawn smirked

«As if you don't know,» the man growled as he closed the door behind him.

«Of course I don't. You weren't very specific as to why we needed to meet.»

She was playing with him and it was beginning to piss him off. «Don't give me that crap! You know everything that goes on in this town from child births to terrorist attack before they even happen. The murder of my brother should be no surprise to you whatsoever.»

«Indeed, it's not. But what's lost cannot be regained, my friend. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you.»

«Yeah right.» The man's self-control was only hanging by a thread now.

«I'm a very powerful woman, but I'm not God—»

His hands slammed onto her desk and his face soon followed as Dragon had immediately reacted. Mr. Rogers felt the tall man's gun nudging at the back of his head.

«I don't want to bring my brother back!» he growled through his clenched teeth. «You know fairly well what I want…»

Dawn smirked evilly as she placed her hand on Dragon's arm and the latter put away his weapon. She crossed her arms thoughtfully. _This could work out perfectly…_ «You are aware that the desire for revenge is sinful, right?»

«Look who's talking…»

One evil glared sufficed to silence him.

«I'll let you do as you please. But I'm warning you: if it interferes with my target, you'll regret ever bringing this up.»

The man bowed his head and was dismissed by the movement of Dawn's hand. His footsteps slowly faded into silence. The evil etched onto Dawn's face remained in it's place as her body began to shake with laughter.

«I know it is none of my business, Milady Dawn,» Dragon interrupted politely. «But what exactly _is_ your target?»

Her uncontrollable trembling continues as she stood and walked towards the window to gaze upon the slumbering city beneath her. The city that would soon belong to her…

«Something that will allow us to awaken our lost kin who are walking around in this city as we speak, wasting their lives as they try to remember their true identity. And once we've accomplished that we will have obtained the most powerful army known to man and beasts.» Dawn turned to face Dragon, her hand covering her laughter consumed mouth. «And that boy which Tsume is _taking care_ of has it: the Lunar Flower.»

* * *

_Amx _: It might take a while to upload the next chapter...


	12. New Found Memories

Amx : SIKE !! xD  
Clx : *shakes head* What am I ever going to do with you...

* * *

Tsume's head felt like it had been split in half and was stomped on by a horse, maybe even an elephant. Although his head was in great pain, it was not caused by his fall when he lost consciousness. A better way to describe it would be exhaustion for receiving too much information at once, memories from long ago once forgotten flowing back all at once. It was just a mass of words passing in his mind one after another: wolves, Darcia, war, Jagara, paradise, Cheza, death…. and Freeze City.

Freeze city was the second time his life turned upside down—if it was actually right side up at the time. Kiba had changed everything just by his presence in the city. If it were not for him, he would have forgotten about the Lunar Flower once it was out of the city and kept living one his worthless life. There was no way to tell what had convinced Tsume to leave with his new found _pack_. Maybe it was out of boredom. Maybe it was due to his gang betraying him and handing him over to the army. There really was no way of telling…

Where was he now anyway? He knew fairly well that he was in the forest near his log house, but what city was it in? What world? What dimension? For all he knew, he could be billions of light years away from world he used to know. Was he in Paradise? No, it couldn't be. Paradise was supposed to be the perfect life for wolves and as far as he knew that was now how his life was going on at the moment. It was nothing like the wonderful world everyone they met talked about. There was just as much death where he currently was than in his previous world. It was more subtle, but there nonetheless. For all he knew he was in Hell.

Although everything seemed so bleak, he was thankful for his position in society as a mafia member. If it was not for his job, he probably would not have been able to meet Toboe again. Ever since he met the boy in Freeze City, he knew there was a connection between the two of them. The strength of it was unknown to him at the time, but now he knew fairly well that it was one of the strongest he had ever made. Toboe was his sun, his ray of bright light shinning down into his darkness.

An image of Toboe's smiling face passed in his mind and he could not help the grin that curled his lips up. He was captivated by Toboe's face; his pure and innocent expression was something that intrigued the man, something that gave him the urge to wipe it from him, to _stain_ him. Every time he gazed into his big brown eyes, he felt as if he was in a trance. He remembered them again and fell captive to the image of his eyes, but it did not last long as Tsume suddenly recalled where they were.

Tsume abruptly sat up, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head. «Toboe!» he shouted in panic.

«Ngh…»

The man turned his head only to find the boy lying on his back, his hand clutching his head. He rushed to his side and pulled him into a protective embrace so strong that he might break the boy.

«I'm so sorry, Toboe. So, _so_ sorry…» he whispered.

The brunette melted under the man's warmth. «Sorry for what?» he mumbled tiredly.

«For my incompetence, for not being able to save you.»

Toboe put his hand on his sun-shape scar, understanding that Tsume was talking about their past life.

«If only I refused to let you chase after the old man or even just going along with you. I may have been able to save you. You may have had a chance to live longer, if only for a few minutes. There was no reason for me to stay behind to protect Cheza; Kiba could've taken care of that on his own. He did not need my help, _you_ did. I should've wanted to protect you, the one I loved.»

Toboe felt the man tremble ever so slightly. Was he crying? Tears swelled up in his own eyes at the thought and he held Tsume closer.

«It's alright, I forgive you, Tsume.»

«You shouldn't.» The man felt horrible for making Toboe go through what he did.

«But I do, Tsume. Don't beat yourself up over this. It was not your fault.»

«Yes it was. I should've been there—»

Toboe cupped the man's face in his hands, forcing him to look him in the eyes. He knew that they were his weakness and that the man felt weak against them. Tsume had been crying a little as Toboe thought, his eyes were far too watery to say otherwise. Toboe had never seen such a scared expression on Tsume and it made his heart sink to see him so weak.

«Listen to me,» he whispered. «Nobody could've known what was going to happen; no one can predict the future accurately. You can't blame yourself for not being able to save me if it was not even your fault. Nobody is to blame. Faith decided I was the first one that had to go. We can't change the past Tsume. None of that matters now anyway since we're both together now.»

Toboe leaned up to kiss Tsume lovingly as his hands snaked their way around his neck. The tanned man kissed back greedily.

«I love you,» he said between kisses. «I swear on my life that I'll do my best to protect you. I can't bear to lose you again, you're too important to me. You're the one who's taking up all the room in my heart.»

Toboe smiled happily against the man's lips. «What about Arashi and Sora? Isn't there a little place in there for them?»

«Of course there's…» Tsume's eyes shot wide open, every muscle in his body tensing.

Toboe cocked his head to the side. «Tsume, what's wrong?»

The brunette yelped in surprise when he felt Tsume lift him into his arms in a single swift movement. Toboe opened his mouth to protest, but Tsume dashed through the trees, dodging the many branches with ease now that his animal instincts had returned. Toboe noticed that he was wearing the same saddened expression as earlier, maybe even slightly more pained.

«Tsume…»

* * *

«Arashi!» the man shouted as he slammed the front door open. «Sora! If you guys are in here you better answer me!»

Tsume ran through every room under Toboe's worried gaze. Why was it so important for him to see Arashi and Sora? The boy tried to follow him as best as he could, but Tsume was moving so distractedly that he was afraid the man was going to trample over him if he got too close.

«Tsume, clam down. I'm sure they're just fine.»

He glanced out the window for the hundredth time before beginning a second search throughout the whole house again. «I know, that's exactly why I need to see them.»

Toboe arched his eyebrows. «What? Tsume, you're not making any sense!»

Said man stopped dead in his tracks, turning towards the boy and laying his hands on his shoulders, gazing deeply into his eyes. «I know, Toboe, but I…»

The brunette put his hands on top of the man's, squeezing them gently. «I want to understand, Tsume. You know that you can tell me anything.»

Tsume smiled softly. «I know, it's just that I—»

«Tsume, are ya in there?!» Arashi yelled as he ran into the house.

At the sight of the tanned man, he came to a brutal halt, eyes going wide. Neither move a muscle as they were afraid the other would disappear if they did so. Their eyes were locked together for what seemed like an eternity. Toboe was really lost as to why both of them were acting in such an odd manner, but he did not dare make a sound.

«Arashi!» Sora shouted. «Did you find—» He froze as he saw Tsume. «—him…»

Toboe stepped aside as he felt Tsume slowly walk towards the twins.

«Ani…» the tanned teen began, his voice leaving him.

Tears swelled up in Sora's eyes and his body trembled heavily. «Onii-san…» the blonde clenched his fists before dashing towards Tsume. «Onii-san!»

«Sora!»

Tsume tightly wrapped his arms around Sora's shoulders as the latter fell into them. The blonde sobbed his heart out as he held the man close. Even a few tears escaped the rim of the man's eyes. Sora looked like a small child holding onto the man as if his life depended on it.

Toboe smiled softly at the scene. He still had no idea what was going on, nor why Sora called Tsume his brother, but the man could explain it to him later. With a faint chuckle, Toboe walked away to his room where he'd wait for Tsume to tell him everything once he was ready.

Tsume slowly opened his watery eyes. Arashi still stood in place, looking down at the floor. Sora noticed and reluctantly pulled away from Tsume. Arashi saw feet appear in front of him, but did not bother to look up since he knew fairly well who they belonged to.

«I'm sorry…» the man mumbled sadly.

Arashi's eyes filled with hot tears. «Don' apologize for somethin' tha's not your fault,» he mumbled.

Tsume smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around the teens shoulders before the latter let out quiet sobs. «I missed ya, Aniki.»

«I missed you too, Arashi, I missed you too…»

* * *

Toboe sat by the window in his room, gazing at the sunrise. There were so many things about Tsume that were unknown to him. The man was obviously related to the twins or he would not have reacted as he did. Tsume never talked about his family or even about himself, so Toboe had just assumed that they were all gone… The only time that he actually mentioned anything was when he talked about his past to him when he was laying motionless on the ground after being shot by Quent. The man probably thought he was long gone by then, since the boy could not muster enough energy to give a response.

At the time, Toboe remembered that Tsume's voice, calling at him to wake up, was the only thing that allowed him to stay conscious long enough to hear how the man felt about him. It was not a direct confession, but in his dying state it was good enough for him. All he wanted to do at the time was reach out and hug Tsume, but when he opened his eyes, he was long gone. Gone after Darcia to avenge him. Tears swelled up in his eyes as he remembered everything. He quickly wiped them away. There was no reason for him to be sad anymore. He was reunited with the man he loved at last. There was no reason to shed tears about the past.

«Toboe?»

Said boy swiftly turned around only to come face to face with the man occupying his every thought.

«Why're you crying?» Tsume asked worriedly.

Toboe smiled softly as he crawled into the man's lap. «I was just thinking about stuff.»

«Well there's your problem, you were using your brain.»

Tsume chuckled as the boy punched his chest. Toboe turned around to face the window again, his back leaning against Tsume. The latter wrapped his strong arms around the boy's small frame. Toboe felt Tsume take a deep breath and sigh.

«Sora and Arashi are…» Tsume paused, inhaling again. He appreciated that Toboe did not push him. «… they're my little cousins. I was practically their father though, 'cause they lost their parents in a forest fire. They died with honor though, saving the lives of many wolves in our pack. After that, I was all they had left. You could say that I was everything to them. I was their brother, parent, friend, teacher and anything you can think of.»

The man remained silent for a while and Toboe raised his arms to put them around the man's neck, encouraging him to go on.

«Do you… remember what I told you when you…»

«Yes, I remember,» Toboe answered quickly, clearly seeing that Tsume did not want to remember _that_ moment.

«Well, the reason I fled from my pack's massacre was 'cause I wasn't able to protect Sora and Arashi and…»

Tsume chocked towards the end, wrapping his arms around the boy even tighter. Toboe felt something wet roll down his neck. He kissed the back of the man's hand, trying to give him some comfort.

«I watched them die in front of me… I was so upset that all I could do was run away. I couldn't see all the other bodies falling beside me. At the time I just wanted to get away from Sora and Arashi's bodies. But when I reached the edge of our territory, all of those who survived were waiting for me. Then the pack's alpha—»

Tsume suddenly became silent.

«Tsume?» the boy asked. He looked up and was surprised at the man's sudden mood change. His irises were slit into those of a beast eyeing its prey. Anger burned withing his eyes and Toboe could have sworn his fangs grew.

«I can't believe it,» he growled.

«Tsume, what did you remember?»

The man stood and pulled Toboe with him as he exited the room, stomping down the hallway. "My God damn pack leader, that's what..."

"Have you met him in this world?"

Tsume chuckled darkly. "Yeah, I have alright."

"Tsume!" the twins yelled from downstairs.

Tsume abruptly came to a halt before running right into Sora. The blond wore a panicked expression and his hands were shaking. "The... the alpha..."

"Yeah, I know."

Toboe looked from Tsume to Sora. "What? Who is it?"

The man remained silent.

"Tsume!"

Said man gave Toboe an odd look. It was a mixture or his earlier anger mixed with pain. "Oir pack's leader was known as Akatsuki, but in this world... she's known as Dawn."

* * *

Amx : HAHA !! You've gotta love a good cliff hanger !! xDDDDDDDDDDDD  
Clx : That's actually a pretty mean way to end the chapter, who knows how long it'll take for us to update again.  
Amx : Not as long as the last time hopefully...

* * *

**RATE AND REVIEW PRETTY PLEASE WITH EGG NOG AND RUM ON TOP !! x)**


	13. Goodbyes

_Clx_ : Omg Omg Omg Omg Omg OH MY GOD !  
Amx : Cool down, will ya?  
_Clx_ : But I can't ! I have too much going on right now... school is gonna murder me, my job is gonna kill me and my dance show this weekend is gonna ASSASSINATE me ! *dies*  
_Amx_ : Oh geez, you'll be fine. You have an 84% average at school, you know a few of the employees at work and you'll be getting a medal (or so we've been told) 'cause you're the best in the class. There's nothing to worry about!  
_Clx_ : *is dead*  
_Amx : _*sighs* Anyway, thanks for your reviews and enjoy this chapter that took months for us to have time to put up :)

* * *

"Arashi, I need you to give Dawn a report on my progress as you were assigned to do," Tsume ordered.

"Why would I do that?" he yelled. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible! We shouldn't have even come back at all!"

"Or at least stay hidden at the log house..." Sora whispered.

"Exactly! Dawn would have never found us there!"

Tsume sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Yes, she would have. When she's set on finding something or someone nothing can stop her."

There was a brief silence at those words. Tsume was absolutely right and there was no denying it. Arashi sat beside Sora in defeat.

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"Exactly what I told you earlier."

"But why?" Sora asked. "Why can't we just leave?"

"Because she'll catch up with us too fast. We won't even be able to reach the border before she knows something is up. We have to go along with our _normal_ tasks or we won't be able to escape at all. Now go. The sooner she gets a report from you the sooner we can disappear."

Arashi rubbed his temples with a discouraged sigh. «I'll take your word for that. You know her way better than all of us put together.»

Sora gave a worried look to his brother. He knew this was a serious matter; it was clear in his tone. There was no slang whatsoever, just regular speech. It was not only his voice either. His eyes had a deadly look in them. And Sora hated it. Arashi squeezed the hand in his as he stood.

Tsume frowned at the heavy atmosphere. «Whatever you do, don't let her know we remember our past and especially don't act any different than you usually would.»

Arashi nodded before turning towards the exit. «Let's go, Sora.»

Arashi dragged Sora outside. The latter whimpered at the strength of his brother's grip on his hand, but Arashi did not seem to notice.

«Arashi, let go. It hurts!»

His brother ignored his protests. «Arashi!»

Sora suddenly felt his back his the car and lips began to hungrily devour his, rendering his unable to breathe. Tears ran down his cheeks, but they were not his.

«Arashi?» he murmured between kisses.

The teen became more passionate at the sound of Sora's voice. His arms held him in and unbreakable embrace and his hands ran through Sora's golden hair, pulling him closer than he already was. Salty trails stuck to his face, but it did not take long for them to be washed away by his own tears. He did not know hay Arashi was crying, but it pained him to see his brother in such a state.

«I love you, Sora,» Arashi mumbled as he lay butterfly kisses along his twins neck to finally settle his head in the crook of his neck. Arashi inhaled Sora's enchantingly sweet scent until he became dizzy from it. «I love you _so much_ that it hurts. I'd do anything for you, even if it meant dying for you.»

«Arashi…» Sora sobbed. «Why're you talking about dying? I don't like it when you talk like that. Stop being so serious, it scares me when you act like this.»

Arashi gave a low, humorless chuckle. «So you don't like it when I act smarter than you?»

«That's not what I meant, Arashi. I just…» Sora wrapped his arms around him, fisting his hands in the fabric of his shirt.

«I'm sorry, Sora,» he apologized as he lay a tender kiss on his creamy white skin.

«Geez, what can possibly be going through that thick head of yours to say such things?»

Arashi remained silent.

Sora's eyes went wide and he swiftly turned Arashi around against the car.

«Don't even think about it!» he hollered.

Arashi wore a confused expression. «What—»

Sora slapped him across the side of his head. Arashi turned back towards his brother with shock written all over his face.

«Don't! Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about! I _dare you_ to act like a hero!» Sora's voice became a low growl at the end.

«I wasn't—»

Arashi caught Sora's fist just before it hit his bruising skin.

«YES, you were! You were planning on sacrificing yourself so that the Toboe, Tsume and I could get away safely. Well guess what? I _won't_ tolerate it!»

«But Sora I—»

Tears collected at the rim of Sora's eyes and Arashi frowned sadly at the sight.

«We're all in this together and that's final. Understood?»

Arashi remained frozen as Sora fell into his arms.

«I don't want you to disappear from me again. Once was too much. I won't be able to bear it.»

Arashi smiled to himself as he wrapped his arms around his brother.

«I'm sorry. I won't talk like that anymore.»

«You bet you won't,» the blond mumbled.

Arashi gave a small peck on Sora's lips. «I like it when ya get angry.»

Sora chuckled as he tried to push the teen away, but the latter refused to let him get away. «Shut up.»

* * *

Tsume frowned sadly as he heard Sora yell at Arashi as they stepped outside. It saddened him because he knew it meant that Arashi also understood the dangerous position they were in. If he was aware about that, then he was also aware that it might be the last time they'd see each other and their lovers.

His arm suddenly felt tight and he remembered that Toboe had been holding onto him since they'd arrived at his place. He could probably tell that something horrible was going to happen. Tsume had a feeling in his gut that their plan was not going to work out and it was clear that the boy was experiencing the same presentiment.

Tsume wrapped his free arm around Toboe's shoulder. There was no need for him to give him comforting words. His gentle gestures were enough for Toboe.

The packing went silently. Neither exchanged a glance. The atmosphere was heavier than it was earlier and it had become slightly awkward as well.

Toboe did not have much to prepare since most of his belongings were still at his apartment. Although, nothing that was left behind there was of any emotional value to him. And even if there were, it would be far too dangerous to return at the moment. Dawn probably had spies lurking around the place. For all they knew, there were some when they went back to collect some of his things the first time.

Toboe gave a heavy sigh as he lay his chin on his crossed arms, remembering what Tsume had told him on the way back in the car.

_«What does Dawn want with me?» he had asked._

_«It's not you that she wants,» Tsume had growled angrily. «She wants something you have.»I_

The boy gave another sigh as he held said object in the palm of his hand. The Lunar Flower. From what Tsume had explained to him, Dawn could awaken all the wolves if she had it in her possession. How? He did not know, but he did know that she would only want an army of angry wolves for only one reason: revenge on the human race.

The technology of this so called _Paradise_ was by far less advanced than the world the world in their past life. There was no machines that could detect them, no visors that could see through their human disguises and most importantly no armies with soldiers trained especially to destroy them. The attack would go along swiftly. The humans would never know what his them.

Toboe held the Flower up, letting rays of sunlight shine through the resin that enveloped it in a protective shield. If it were not for the latter, the Lunar Flower would have wilted a long time ago and it's beauty would not have been preserved either.

It was odd to think that he was holding Cheza in his hand. Although, it saddened him to know that she had been reborn as an actual flower instead of a girl.

«You should probably hide that,» Tsume whispered in his ear.

Toboe shivered at the warm breath on his skin.

«I know, but we can't hide her here. I'll keep her close until we can put her somewhere safe. Somewhere where no one will find her.»

There was a long silence and neither of them wanted to break it. Tsume's hands lingered on Toboe's arms, slowly rubbing his thumbs over them. A low rumbling could he heard and Tsume laughed at the faint pink that tinted the boy's cheeks.

«You should probably eat something,» he chuckled. «God knows when's the next time we're going to be allowed to fill up.»

Toboe nodded as he slipped the Flower into his pocket. Tsume was already searching through the kitchen for something to eat.

«Damn, there's only condiments in here. There's nothing decent to—»

Tsume felt the boy wrap his arms around him and squeeze tightly.

«Toboe?»

«I…» tears were evident in his voice. «I don't want to lose you again.»

Tsume frowned sadly as he turned to wrap his arms around Toboe's shaking shoulders.

«You won't. We'll get away safely.»

«Promise me.»

«Toboe…»

The latter lessened his grip on Tsume and looked up to meet his eyes.

«Promise me that everything will be fine.»

Tsume gazed into Toboe's teary amber eyes. There was no way he could lie to him. The man sighed then ran his fingers through Toboe's hair.

«I can't grantee that the plan will go… well, as planned,» Tsume said as he chuckled darkly. «But in the worst case scenario we still have plan B.»

Toboe's eyes went wide. «But plan B means you'll have to—»

«I know, I don't want to have to resort to it. That's why we're going o do our best to make plan A work, right?»

Toboe smiled softly as he nodded, tears still shining at the rim of his eyes. Tsume leaned down to lay a gentle kiss on his forehead and before he was able to move away, Toboe wrapped his arms around his neck and lay a passionate kiaa on his lips.

«I love you,» Toboe breathed.

«I love you more,» Tsume chuckled. «More than anything else. You're my world, Toboe.»

The boy gave an amused giggle. «It's weird when you're corny.»

«But you're not complaining, are you?»

Tsume nipped at Toboe's earlobe, pulling a delightful moan from the latter.

«No, not at all.»

The boy sunddenly noticed that Tsume had walked them into the living room. The man lay him on the couch, towering over him. Tsume's lips travelled down to Toboe's now exposed stomach, leaving a silver trail from his neck to his naval.

«Tsume,» Toboe panted as he bit his lip.

The man's hand tugged at Toboe's pants and the latter's eyes shot wide open and he shoved Tsume away. «No!»

Tsume gave him a questioning look. «No?»

«We can't.»

«Why not?» he asked as he leaned in closer.

Toboe gently put his hands on Tsume's shoulders. «You have to go see Dawn, remember?»

The man groaned as he sank into the couch. «You're such a mood-killer, did you know that?»

Toboe chuckled at Tsume's disappointed expression. «We'll have lots of time to _play_ later.»

The man's grin reappeared. «I like the way you think.» Tsume pounced Toboe, laying playful kisses on his neck and the boy chuckled amusedly. «Oncee we're out of here, we'll have all the time in the world.»

At those words, a figure disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

Tsume sat in front of the wheel, impatiently waiting for the stoplight to turn green. Toboe lay under a tarp in the back seat, hidden amongst a few bags they had added to the ones that were already there from their trip to the log house.

There was no way Tsume was going to leave Toboe alone at his place since they would lose too much valuable time if he had to go back to pick him up. But they could not be seen together at the moment, not when Tsume was going to meet up with Dawn. Toboe was not even supposed to know of her existence and even less of her whereabouts.

The car came to a stop and Tsume let out a breath he had not noticed he had been holding.

«You've been sighing a lot,» Toboe whispered.

The man smiled slightly. He bent towards the passenger seat to pick up his phone that he had intentionally dropped earlier. If he was being watched by one of Dawn's minions—which he probably was—they would not be able to see his mouth moving.

«You remember everything I told you earlier, right?» he mumbled quietly as he pretended to still be reaching for his cell.

Toboe recalled everything he had said as clear as if he had just told him. Things were obviously going to get complicated as soon as Tsume set foot out of the car. The man had warned him that he would be talking strangely and that no matter how convincing he sounded, most of what he was going to say was going to be lies. He had no other choice, the people lurking on the outside of Dawn's base were all able to read lips, some more precisely than others. Tsume had to be very cautious to not give anything away.

The man opened his phone and brought it to his ear as if someone had called him.

«Tsume,» he answered. «Oh, hey Toboe. What's wrong.»

This was the beginning of the plan, to fake a conversation with Toboe.

«I'm scared, Tsume,» he murmured.

«I'll be home in a few minutes, I just need to go to a quick meeting with my boss.»

«Be careful. I don't know what I'd do without you,» Toboe chocked towards the end. He was desperately trying to hold back tears.

«Of course. Do you want me to pick anything up on the way home? Do you need anything for dinner?»

Tsume wasn't actually asking him that, he was asking whether he was ready to proceed with the plan or not.

«No, but I don't have much of a choice. I can hear someone coming.»

Tsume looked out the window and as Toboe had said, someone was approaching the car.

«Alright, I've got to go now. I love you.»

«I love you too.»

Tsume closed his phone. From that point on, Toboe could not trust anything Tsume was going to say. All his words were going to be lies.

The man that was on the outside of the car knocked on the window. The sound sent a chill down Toboe's spine and he slapped his hands over his mouth to muffle the surprised yelp that almost escaped. Tsume stepped out as he put his sunglasses on and gave a heavy sigh.

«That was a nice conversation you were having there,» and unfamiliar voice said.

«You know that it's not polite to listen to other people's conversations, Dragon.»

The other man grinned. «Technically, I was reading your lips.»

Tsume rolled his eyes. «You know what I mean.»

The other man gave a low chuckled. «You really have the brat fooled, don't you?»

«Yeah, he thinks that I actually care for him. Can you believe that?»

Toboe felt hurt by Tsume's words even though they were not true. Tsume had warned him that he would be lying, but it was still painful to hear him say such things.

«From what I _heard_, he thinks that you love him too. Ha! What a joke!»

Tsume wanted to punch Dragon _so_ badly, but he unclenched his fists before he noticed or there would have been trouble. He was not supposed to love Toboe, it was just another job and another person to con.

«Tell me about it!» he laughed.

He knew Toboe could hear them, but the boy was strong. He could handle it.

«I take it you did not have time to unpack.»

Tsume almost tensed—almost. He thought that maybe he had seen the bags move and that he was pointing it out subtly. But no, the look in his eyes was too nonchalant for him to have noticed.

«Yeah, the kid kept me…« he paused and Dragon looked at him over his sunglasses.

«What?»

«He kept me _busy_. If you know what I mean.»

The other man gave a loud laugh. «Well, that's to be expected I guess. He's at the age where is sexual appetite is through the roof.»

Toboe frowned at that. _Even though I'm a teenager, Tsume's the one that's always making the first move. As far as I know, he's hornier than I've ever been._

Tsume chuckled, he knew what Toboe was thinking. It was obvious.

«There's that, but Dawn becomes impatient quick. So I didn't lose any time getting here.

«Ah, to true,» Dragon agreed. «Try being with her every waking moment.»

«Not that you mind though, right?»

Tsume noticed that Dragon hesitated for a split second. «No, of course not.»

The tanned man was not convinced, but he ignored the thought. There was no time for questions on that matter. Especially since the horrid woman he would be asking about stepped out in front of them.


	14. Showtime

A/N: I will not even bother apologizing, because I cannot find the right words. I have made you all wait for so terribly long for this chapter and you will all probably want to kill me once you find out that there is only one of two left after this one… Anyway, I will not keep you anymore; you have already waited long enough. Enjoy!

* * *

Tsume inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down, as Dawn approached them. He was thankful for his glasses at the moment, or she would have seen the fire burning behind his eyes. It was not as if he had never glared at her. On the contrary, he had every occasion he got, but this time she would have noticed the difference.

Every fibre of his body ached to transform into his true form and rip her throat out. He did not even know if it was possible, but either way he wanted to get rid of her. But if he wanted to get out of there alive and to be able to see Toboe again, he had to clam himself down. If Sora were there, he would have been able to douse his anger, but he was not an Tsume was glad about that. He was headed to a safe place with Arashi, so that put his mind somewhat at ease.

"Hello, Tsume dear!" Dawn said as she walked up to him, her arms in the air almost as if she was expecting him to hug her.

He stepped away from her with a grunt before she could catch him.

"You're supposed to call me Claw here."

She gave as sigh as she let her arms fall to the side.

"You're so cold, Claw. If you keep that attitude up you're never going to be able to settle down with a good woman."

"Who ever said that I wanted to?" he asked with annoyance.

"Of course!" Dragon exclaimed, "He'd much rather prefer to settle down with that cute kid!"

He nudged Tsume with his elbow and the later pushed him away.

"Even if I did want to _settle_ _down_, it would be impossible with this job."

"You're such a kill-joy, you know that?" Dawn shrugged as she turned back towards where she came from. "But I suppose you're right about that."

Dragon opened the door to her office and she smiled as she passed beside him. Tsume, however, did not step into the room. He was frozen on the spot as he stared in disbelief at the tanned woman sitting on the corner of Dawn's desk.

_Thunder is… Blue?_

Blue gave him an odd look, but not like the usual cold, hateful one he would receive from her in the past. It was strange. Almost as if she was hoping for something unexpected to happen because of his reaction. Did she…?

Tsume decided it was a better bet to not take any chances at this point. He had to get out of there are soon as possible, so there was no time for him to figure out what was on her mind or to clarify what was on his. Besides, there was no need to find out either because he was going to leave this godforsaken place once he was done with Dawn. _Act normal…_

"I'm not talking about anything with that bitch in here," Tsume spat. He would have laughed at the pun if it were any other time.

_Thunder's _look became spiteful as usual. His words had changed her expression and he knew it, it was too obvious. If Dawn had not noticed then she was blind, but under the circumstances he was thankful that she didn't. Had Blue always acted like that?

"Are you afraid of little ol' me, Claw honey?" Blue mocked.

"Not in your wildest dreams, bitch. But just to refresh your memory, the last time you stayed and listened to one of my reports you ended up stabbing me in the back after."

"It's not healthy to hold grudges, you sad, sad man," she laughed as she got up and walked towards him.

"It's not healthy to get shot five times either, _whore._"

They're faces were now inches away from one another and they both had their fangs bared, practically growling at each other.

"Now, now, children," Dawn intervened. "That's enough."

"I'm not talking with her here."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Stop being so childish, Claw."

"I'm not being childish, I'm being cautious."

He glared at her through his glasses and she sighed, rubbing her temples. She waved Thunder away and said woman clicked her tongue and pushed passed Tsume.

"I remember, Tsume."

And with that, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Tsume's eyes went wide and he turned around so fast his neck cracked, but when he opened the door again, she was already gone.

"She… remembers?"

_She can't possibly mean our past lives, can she?_

"What's wrong, Claw?"

"Nothing important." He stepped back into Dawn's office. "She just gets under my skin too much."

Dawn chuckled.

"You really have to control that temper of yours."

"Anyway," he took his glasses off and closed his eyes as he scratched the back of his head. "Let's get on with it."

Dawn slumped down into her chair, crossing her fingers in front of her.

"How much longer do you need?" she asked, all humor gone from her voice.

"Not much longer," he walked over to the window stared blankly at the skyscrapers in the distance. "A few days at most."

"I see. But I must ask, why are you taking so long to complete your mission? It's already been over a month and you're still not done."

"I want to make sure that everything goes smoothly."

"You still shouldn't need a full month to do so."

"Dawn, this is serious shit we're talking about." He shook his head, still gazing out the window. "If we're not absolutely sure that the kid won't suspect me once the Flower is gone, he will go to the police and then they'll eventually trace me down and then you."

"Couldn't you just get rid of him?"

"No, it's essential that he goes to the cops. He won't know who stole it and won't think of mentioning me, so they'll be running around in circles, trying to find someone who doesn't exist. It will buy us some time."

"I see."

Dawn swiveled her chair towards Tsume and tilted her head a little to the side, narrowing her eyes on him.

"I have something else to ask you."

"What?"

"Why haven't you looked at me since you took your glasses off?"

Tsume's eyes widened ever so slightly and he calmly turned towards her.

"No particular reason."

Dawn smirked when their eyes met and she stood up.

"So that's why you wouldn't look at me…"

Tsume gave her an odd look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your eyes are different than when you left. It's as if you remembered something."

She slowly inched closer to him and Tsume would have backed up, but that would have been suspicious since he _never_ backed away from her.

"Like what?"

Dawn's hand flew to his face and he dodged her just in time. He caught a glimpse of something unusual about her hands as they passed close to his eyes: claws. She gave him a malicious grin and her canines were sharper and longer than they should be.

"Your eyes," she said, "Have become those of the beast you were, that you _are_."

He steadied himself and drew his dagger, positioning it in front of his face for protection.

"When did you remember?" he growled.

"As far as I can recall, I've always been aware of the past. That's why I became the way I am, the way I used to be: powerful."

They circled around the open space in the office, never taking their eyes off one another. Dawn was crouched over in a very predator like way, her hands almost touching the ground, and Tsume kept his fighter stance.

"If you think about it, everyone in this gang is from our old pack. It's surprising how fast I found everyone. It was as if they were all drawn together, as if destiny wanted us to find each other. _You_, however," she pointed at Tsume with a dark chuckle, "You were hard to find, but when I did find you and found out that you were the only one that did not remember me the moment we met, I was ecstatic!"

Tsume carefully scanned the room for an exit. Dawn was positioned between the door and himself, so that was a lost cause. He could jump out the window, but there were probably men outside and one order from Dawn was all they needed to shoot him down. He was strong, but he was not invincible. He also had to be careful about Dragon; he could see him out of the corner of his eyes, watching his every move. He was screwed.

"My first thought was to kill you as soon as I found you," Dawn went on with her monologue. "But I just _had_ to torture you after what to did to me, no, to the pack! Stabbing you in the back so many times, always blaming it on Thunder."

Tsume glared at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Oh come on! Don't tell me you didn't notice," she laughed. "That brat couldn't hurt a flea if her life depended on it."

_If only she knew her before_, he thought.

"But what does she have to do with you? She wasn't a part of the pack, so why would you take her in?"

"She was just an abandoned pup when I found her, a little girl wandering the streets aimlessly waiting to die. And besides, I needed someone to put all the blame on when your missions would fail and I found no reason on putting the blame on someone from the pack since _they_ did not betray me. What does it matter anyway? It's not like a _filthy _half-blood like her had any future! I was doing her a favor! She obediently followed my orders like the little dog she is."

"Getting the innocent caught up in your business isn't like you, or at least it wasn't."

"What do you know about me?" she screamed as she lunged towards him.

Tsume dodged again and pushed her onto the ground. Tsume held his dagger to her throat and held her wrists above her head with his free hand. Dawn laughed maniacally. _She's gone mad_.

"You've gone soft, Tsume. Before, you would have killed without hesitation."

"I haven't grown soft, Akatsuki," as he said her real name she tensed under him. "I have a soul."

"Nonsense! Beasts like us cannot have souls! Only those wretched humans can possess them!"

"I'm glad that those _wretched_ humans rubbed off on me then, Akatsuki," Tsume said sarcastically with a faint grin.

Dawn glared as she managed to put her legs between the both of them and push Tsume off. The latter stumbled as his foot caught on one of the chairs and as he fell against something, he felt a slight burn on his neck. His eyes became heavy as he fell to the ground. All he saw before everything faded away was the syringe in Dragon's hand.

* * *

Tsume groaned at the pain travelling from the bottom of his neck to his forehead. He did not know what Dragon had used on him, but, whichever drug it was, it made him feel as though he had been run over by an eight-wheeler. He was certain that his head was going to explode at any second.

He did not know whether it was the drugs affecting his sight or because he was simply disoriented, but everything around him seemed blurry. As he raised his arm to rub his eyes, he noticed that it was impossible due to the barbed wire that held him down to the chair he was sitting in. He had a bad feeling about all of this.

Where was he anyway? It was clear to him that he was not being held in the cells where Dawn kept her prisoners or there would have been an unbearable stench in the air for his sensitive nose.

Bright white lights suddenly shot directly into his already blinded eyes.

"Wake up, Tsume!" Dawn laughed sadistically.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the slight headache the blinding lights had caused him, he noticed that he was in the side corridors of some sort of stage. Long red curtains made of a heavy and expensive fabric hung from the ceiling and some sort of platform seeming like a bed hung a few feet above the ground in the middle of the stage. Many spotlights were aimed at the makeshift bed and his instincts were telling him to run.

"How're you feeling, traitor?" Dawn asked as she feigned concern. "Are you comfortable?"

Tsume opened his mouth to talk back, but no words came out. His throat felt numb as if it had become dry all of a sudden, but it also felt like he had too much saliva in his mouth.

"I'll take that as I know, but it can't be helped I suppose," she shrugged.

He tried speaking again, but his efforts were in vain.

"I'm glad to see that the drugs are effective, though. It's a little something I made myself and I intend to put it on the market soon, but I needed test subjects, you see? I figured that you would be the perfect person to test it on, seeing as I don't care what happens to you."

Tsume glared back at her as he tried to relax his muscles, making it easier—but no less painful—to pry his wrists free of the barbed wire that dug into his skin. He winced as a certain point bit into his arm as he moved, but, to his relief, Dawn did not seem to notice.

"Even though your opinion is irrelevant to me I'd like to know one thing," she paused and spun as she threw her hands in the air.

"How do you like my theatre?" she asked excitedly. "It nearly cost me a fortune! But you know me, right? Money practically grows in my backyard."

Tsume could do nothing other than glare.

"We're going to be hosting a show to many personal—and not so personal—friends of mine. I suppose that I should call it an auction. I believe you know what kind I'm talking about, don't you?"

Tsume cringed; she was talking about human auctions. It consisted of selling people to the mighty and powerful to use as sex slaves or in the lucky cases as servants. To contrary belief, as many woman participated in such events as men because there were not only girls and young women sold off, but men as well. He grit his teeth and his muscles tensed, making him wince as new cuts formed around his wrists. Dawn gave him an odd look before bursting out into hysterical laughter.

"You think that I'll be selling _you_ off? Even the mentally ill would never pull such a stunt. You're too damaged and, quite frankly, brute. Even though I have heard of selling off more masculine and built men in the past, I prefer to sell of the good stuff. Young and fresh meat, pure and innocent is what my audience came here for. You," she pointed at him dramatically. "Are only here to watch."

"Dawn," Dragon whispered as he stuck his head out from around the corner. "The guests are growing impatient."

She waved at him as she took the microphone that was sticking out of her back pocket.

"It's Showtime!" she declared as she crossed half of the stage and passed between the two red curtains. Applauds and cheers soon erupted from the other side as Dawn began her monologue, explaining the events of the night.

In the meantime, men began bringing young men and women—some seeming to be underage—to the stage. The men clad in black lined them up and as they did so, a large screen descended on the back wall. On closer inspection, he noticed that the "products" were all gagged and had their hands tied behind their backs with what seemed to be handcuffs. Their eyes were uncovered, but they were in no way useful as they were glazed over; they were obviously drugged. Tsume felt disgusted at the sight and turned his attention back to Dawn's voice.

"After all five products have been bet on and sold; you will look forward to a special product that will not sell for a low price."

Tsume heard the buyers on the other side whisper between one another, eager to see the surprise.

"On that note, let the show begin!"

Tsume heard more clapping and the curtains opened, revealing a vaster audience than he thought was there. Many leathered chairs were filled with faces that Tsume recognized whether they were faces he had personally seen or caught a glimpse of in the files in Dawn's office. The few that were in the front row were other mafia leaders, all of them being less powerful and influential than Dawn. Tsume figured it was an alliance tactic to invite them to such an event. Those sitting behind them were corrupt politicians or immoral businessmen. All the others were most likely people with power in society who had too much money to spend in the wrong places. Tsume smiled internally; if the police were to arrive at this moment, there would be an overload in the state's prison.

Suddenly, all the lights went out except for two spotlights that were aimed at the first product—who seemed to be a young girl in her late teens—and at Dawn, who was auctioning off the merchandise.

"This young girl is of Asian origin, Korean to be more precise," Dawn recited. "She is 17 years old and is virgin in every term of the word. If you will observe the screen behind me…"

A pre-recorded film began of said girl being molested by two men wearing masks.

"We prepared this little video for you to give you an idea of the prize that awaits you," Dawn continued.

Tsume could tell that the crowd was getting aroused; he could smell it in the air.

"Do not worry, my men did not take her virginity, they are simply pleasuring her. If you want to make sure, you are free to come inspect the merchandise after being bought off. The bidding will begin at 5,000$."

The prices went booming and the girl was finally bought for a ridiculously high price. The man that won her immediately came onto the stage to inspect the merchandise to make sure it was intact.

_This is meaningless, _Tsume thought as he rolled his eyes. _I see no reason why she would keep me here for this atrocity. _

He looked down at his wrists and found that he still had a ways to go before freeing himself. He figured that the show would continue for at least another two hours or so, making his escape easy. Dawn would not even notice that he had runaway until he was far gone, seeing as she was preoccupied with other tasks at the moment.

Despite his prediction, the auction went on pretty quickly and Tsume had only managed to get the barbed wire up to his knuckles. In the worst case scenario, he could yank his fingers free, but that would damage them greatly.

"And now," he heard Dawn shout as only a single spotlight on her was lit. "The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived!"

More cheers erupted from the audience. Tsume had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had not even notice the final boy leave the stage with the buyer.

"Since we only found this dear one earlier today there is no pre-recorded demonstration of his talents."

The crowd's disappointment was voiced as many of them shouted profanities at her.

"Do not get ahead of yourselves, my friends," she reassure with the wave of a hand. "Because of that, we will be giving a live demonstration instead." She paused for dramatic effect as the crowd's whispers of content erupted. "Are you ready to see him?"

Quiet cheers could be heard as the spotlight above the bed began to slowly turn on. Tsume's eyes followed Dawn as she approached the bed where he could see two tall figures standing around the bed.

"We have been monitoring this one for a few years now, so we know much about him. He is an eighteen year old Caucasian male with feminine traits."

Tsume did not feel alarmed at her words, but he should have been. As the spotlight was fully lit and the image on the screen changed suddenly to the boy lying in the bed, being filmed from a camera somewhere he could not see, Tsume felt his heart stop and his eyes began to sting. His legs and arms began to shake uncontrollably as tears fell across his cheeks. _Toboe…_

Said boy was lying in the elegantly covered bed with not even a single piece of clothing on his body. Toboe's cheeks were beet red and his eyes were glazed over, unfocused and empty. Sweat that slowly trickled down his neck was almost immediately licked away as the man standing behind him bent his head down to lay small bite marks on him as he toyed with the boy's upper body. The other man was making sure that Toboe's legs stayed open as he pleased between his legs. Tsume's hands clenched on the chairs arm rests, ignoring the searing pain that shot up his whole arm as the wires dug deeper into his flesh.

"Although all of the previous merchandise has been virgin, this one here seems to have quite a bit of experience," she said with a sly grin as she glanced briefly over to Tsume. "One of my men was appointed that task."

Toboe gave out an almost inaudible moan as the second man ran his tongue over his length.

"I know many of you will be disappointed and will wonder why I made this decision, but I must say that if I were in your position I would prefer that my toy knows what he's doing, no?" She heard murmurs of agreement and gave satisfied smirk. "Bidding will begin shortly after this display."

That said, she left the stage in Tsume's direction. The latter felt the anger, rage and sorrow of not being able to do anything boil inside him as he lurched towards her, but was immediately held back by the barbed wire. Despite his muscles' straining, he thrashed around as much as he could, the adrenaline cancelling out the pain. Dawn's smirk grew wider at the hatred that glowed deep in his eyes. Each step she was taking towards him was a step closer to her eminent death and Tsume was going to make sure that it was a painful one.

"He seems to be enjoying himself, don't you think?"

Tsume gave an animalistic growl as he attempted once more to free himself once more, his very being shaking with rage.

"It seems so, Akatsuki," a man whispered in Tsume's ear.

The latter's head whipped around at the familiar voice and frowned at the man standing behind him.

"It looks like you trained him well, Tsume," Tsukasa said as he gave a wide smirk, tapping him on the back.

Tsume coughed at the impact and glared back up at him as he went to Dawn's side.

"Why…" Tsume heaved, feeling his throat go dry once more.

"Am I here?" he completed. "For revenge, what else?'

Tsume gave him a questioning look.

"You killed my brother remember?" Still a blank look. "The authorities found a body in the bottom of the water cut into little pieces just a few days ago. Does that ring any bells?"

The man thought for a second before his eyes went wide.

"Yeah," Tsukasa growled. "He was my brother. And I figured that I'd return the favour by seeing taking someone dear to you away, but when I heard of you plan to escape, I could not resist sabotaging it." He moved closer to Tsume, his face only inches from his. "I've been watching you ever since you came to the University and I have to say that I've discovered some interesting things. For one, I was surprised to find that the all-mighty Tsume had fallen in deep love with his target," he laughed mockingly.

"That's none… of your business," Tsume said under his breath and he coughed to clear his throat. "You should not even be a part of us; you're no wolf. You don't belong."

"That may be true," he yawned as he put his hands in his pockets. "But at least I'm no traitor, that's already a good start, no?"

Tsume glowered at him as he tried to calm his nerves, continuing to slowly remove his hands from the wires.

"I also found out that you were planning on escaping with two other of Dawn's very important subordinates. I believe their names were Arashi and Sora?"

A low, animalistic growl was heard from Tsume once more.

"Leave them out of this or I'll cut you up like your brother," he threatened.

Tsume saw out of the corner of his eye that Dawn was growing bored of the conversation and left towards Toboe.

"No, I will not leave them out of this. They have everything to do with this since you decided to drag them into your problems."

"Ah!" Toboe screamed from the bed.

Tsume's eyes shot up and more tears escaped Tsume's eyes as some did the same for Toboe. At that moment, Tsume knew that even though he was drugged that he would remember everything that was happening to him.

"That's right," Tsukasa laughed, pulling Tsume's attention back to him. "Once we find your _brothers_, they will go through similar treatments."

Tsume shook as he slowly removed his hands from the wire.

"Stop," he growled.

"Well, that's not entirely true," Tsukasa continued, ignoring Tsume's words. "That Arashi would be too much of a hassle to sell off as a slave, so he will probably be thrown into those filthy cells where Akatsuki holds her prisoners."

"Shut it."

Tsume felt the hairs on the back of his neck as well as on his arms stand.

"If he's not sent there, then he will probably go to one of the laboratories Akatsuki has on the outskirts of town to conduct experiments on him, testing new drugs, viruses and organic weapons."

"Shut up," he growled a little louder.

The tip of Tsume's teeth became sore and he felt his canines dig into his lower lip. The tip of his fingers became numb as he saw his nails darker to black.

"He really has the perfect body for that, since he's small, but all the while well built. For all I know he could also end up in the bottom of the ocean after being tortured and practically skinned alive."

"I said shut up."

Tsume's vision became clearer as his eyes began to burn slightly. He felt he feet slowly slip out of his boots as his toe-nails sliced through his socks. His tailbone began to push to the surface.

"Now Sora," Tsukasa smirked evilly. "He's one hell of a beauty. Even though he's one hell of a whore, seeing as he lets himself be taken over and over by his own brother, auctioneers would buy him on the spot after seeing him go through the same treatment as your little whore over there."

Tsukasa leaned towards Tsume's ear, unaware of what was to come.

"And all of this," he ushered sadistically. "Is. All. Your. Fault."

Toboe let out another cry of ecstasy and pain as the man who had won him came up onto the stage to verify his potential with his own hands.

Tsume snapped.

* * *

A/N: You guys really are gonna kill me... Making you wait so long and then a cliffhanger? I must be a sadist. I'd like to be able to promise you that the following chapter(s) will be up soon, but I honestly do not know what's going to happen. The story is fresh in my mind, so it's the same for the ideas. That's a good thing for all of us I suppose lol. Please review and constructive flaming is well appreciated. :)


	15. A New Beginning

Everyone's blood froze as a howl echoed against the walls, amplifying its intensity. Heads turned this way and that in confusion, trying to find the source of the cry. Dawn stood wide-eyed as she watched the spectacle from the stage, not sure whether she should be in awe or utterly terrified. Toboe's eyes widened as adrenaline pumped through his veins at the wonderful sight, his heartbeat picking up the pace and cleansing his body of the drugs. Tsukasa had stumbled to the ground as he tried to retreat from the new threat in front of him and was now sitting in shock, unable to move.

Tsume cried out in agony as his bones broke, reshaped themselves and healed, his muscles stretching over them to keep up with the transformation. His eyes began to glow a brilliant golden yellow as the irises became faint slits. His jaw moved forward as predatory sharp teeth grew longer than that of a human. A tail began to slowly inch its way out of his clothes, smooth grey fur covering every inch of it. Claws began to dig into the wooden frame of the chair as his wrists became small enough to free from the clutches of the dreaded barbed wire. With his newly grown fangs, Tsume ripped the remaining of his jacket off and jumped out of his pants to the floor in front of Tsukasa.

The latter staggered backwards in fear of the beast before him. He had heard Dawn talking about her past here and there and that they were originally wolves, but that was in another world, in another dimension as well, most likely.

Tsume lift his head up high, puffing his chest out proudly as his tail swayed back and forth behind him. He looked down at the man shaking like a leaf before him with a condescending glare, his terrorizing eyes piercing into his very soul. Tsume struck fear into the lowly human because of his newly obtained true form. This is how it was supposed to be; how it was always supposed to be. He had become a proper wolf once more.

And it felt good.

Toboe smiled from afar as the goons and the man that had bought him retreated to the far side of the bed, trying to keep as much distance between them and the wolf that had come out of nowhere. This was the Tsume he knew: proud and terrifying.

"Impossible…" Dawn whispered as she ran her shaky hands through her hair, gripping her head tightly.

Tsume's eyes snapped up to her and his lip rose, revealing his murderous teeth as he let out a deep predatory snarl.

"You're not supposed to…" she chuckled nervously, her face twisting into an expression that could be nothing other than madness. "How could you possibly…"

Tsume hunched over as he slowly walked towards the woman that had caused him as well as so many others suffering. She had recruited Arashi and Sora to use them as pawns and made them do unimaginable tasks; ones that would follow them to the grave. He could not tolerate such actions. No one was allowed to manipulate and toy with his family like she had and he was going to make her regret it. But what infuriated him the most was that she had dared to lay a finger on Toboe. By doing so, she had sealed an unbreakable deal with Death.

All he wanted to do at the moment was rip her throat out and he could feel his teeth aching in anticipation. His limbs were still numb from the transformation, but they also tensed as he prepared to pounce towards her. Just as he was about to run after her he heard a shuffling movement and then a sudden gun shot from behind. Some people in the audience let out a scream at the sound and Tsume's head snapped back.

Tsukasa had gotten to his feet despite his shaky legs and was now pointing the gun at Tsume. The latter gave an indifferent look, knowing far too well that Tsukasa would not be able to harm him with such trivial weapons. After all, he had seen far worse.

"_What does he think he'll be able to do with that?_"Tsume asked to himself.

Tsukasa started and stepped back. Tsume would have smiled if he could have.

"_Oh, so you can hear me, can you? That's a first. Maybe you were a wolf once after all._" He turned around and tilted his head to the side as he sat down. "_Or maybe it's because you can sense that you're going to die. It could even be just the plain fact that we're in a different dimension, so maybe everyone can hear me. Either way, it does not change the fact that you are going to die in the next ten seconds."_

Tsukasa's eyes widened as he let out a shriek of fear and fired the remaining shots at Tsume. The latter jumped to his feet and dodged each bullet with ease and leapt at the quivering man's throat, biting down with ease. He felt his canines sink into the flesh and the warm blood seeping out of the deep gashes into the back of his throat. As Tsukasa fell on his back, all life having left him, Tsume did not bother to let go and decided to walk onto the stage with Tsukasa's neck still firmly between his teeth.

Some of the audience began to panic at the gunfire, but nothing could compared to the expression they wore as soon as they laid eyes on the beast on stage and the amount of crimson blood that spooled around the body as it was hauled across the stage. Not wanting to be caught in the middle of a murder, they all raced towards the exit only to find that the door was locked. Tsume could feel the panic that drowned the room and gave a low growl that could be nothing other than a chuckle. He did not care about them as long as they did not try to hurt Toboe or him.

Dawn then regretted sealing the room. It had been a precaution in case anyone tried to pull something so that they could not escape. She had not expected Tsume to be able to fully transform into a wolf. Even though she had remembered many years ago that she was a wolf, she had only been able to transform her fingernails into claws and her canines into longer ones just recently. Many others that worked under her were able to do similar transformations, but even those that knew of their true origin since they were born were not able to fully transform. And the fact that Tsume was now a full fledged wolf terrified her because she knew that she would not be able to defeat him as she was even if she had weapons.

Tsume threw Tsukasa to Dawn's feet before he proceeded to get rid of the three men that hid behind the bed that Toboe lay on. They were gone before they even had time to react and, had he not been used to the sight, Toboe would not be smiling happily as he was at the moment. The men fell like flies into a pile in a mix of their blood.

Tsume shook the excess blood out of his fur before giving Toboe a meaningful glance, letting him know that he would take care of him as soon as he had disposed of the garbage, to which the boy nodded, and turned his attention back to Dawn once more. She was shaking with fear and Tsume thought it pathetic. She had once been one of the fiercest wolves he had ever known, afraid of nothing. He growled with a mixture of pity and anger—but mostly anger.

It was hard for him to believe that she had stolen his position as the pack leader long ago since he had always been the alpha wolf of the pack, but now was not the moment to think of old grudges. Or maybe it was, since it would fuel his anger even more.

His back hunched as Dawn slowly backed away from her imminent death. It was clear to both of them how this would end. She may have had the advantage earlier when she drew her claws at him, but while he was fully transformed there was no way she was going to get out of this. Even if she was in her wolf form as well he would win, since he had never lost against her.

Just as he was about to pounce, they heard a loud bang and screams followed. Their heads followed the sound and saw men clad protective equipment charge into the room, guns raised and thick plastic shields held high: SWAT had arrived. Orders were barked in strangely familiar voices for everyone to get down and the crowd did as it was told. It was pointless to resist considering that the only exits out of the room were surrounded by federal agents of all kinds. They were screwed and they knew it.

Tsume smiled internally. Everyone was going to be caught attending this illegal auction and they were all going to be put away for it. He could not believe how amazing it was for the cops to magically arrive, but he was thankful for it. The streets were going to be so much cleaner after this.

Dawn stared wide-eyed at the spectacle then at Tsume, who was relishing in this small victory, before dashing into the corridors of the stage. Tsume heard the sudden shuffling of movement and darted in her direction, but—

"Tsume!" Toboe shouted as loud as he could.

He stopped abruptly and hesitated as to if he should follow Dawn. Making sure that Toboe was fine prioritized and he figured that if she were to try escaping that she would not get very far, seeing as all the exits were surrounded by police officers.

Tsume leapt onto the bed and Toboe instantly threw his arms around his neck, hiding his face in his soft fur as he tried his best to keep from crying. Tsume licked away the stray tears that were stubborn enough to roll down the boy's cheeks. His small body shook with fear and humiliation and Tsume could not even kiss it away in his current state. There were no physical injuries to be seen—that was understandable since Dawn had planned on selling him and he had to be in good condition—but Tsume knew that on a mental level that Toboe would be scared for life. Being violated against one's will would to that to people and he had seen it too many times to count.

He wanted to hold him close and tell him that everything was going to be all right. But he knew that everything was far from being fine and that it would take Toboe a great deal of time to forget about this incident. Tsume put one of his paws to the small of Toboe's back as he steadied himself with his other one and pulled him as close as he could. This was the only physical comfort he could give for now.

"Let's get you out of here," Tsume said as he slowly pulled away from Toboe's embrace and snaked under his body.

The boy understood and managed to climb onto his back after draping his naked body in one of the blankets. He put his arms around Tsume as strongly as he could and hid his face in his fur once more. Tsume bound off the bed as gently as he could and looked around for an exit. There was no way that they were getting out the main entrance since there were officers all over the place and every piece of human scum was being handcuffed.

They all seemed to have forgotten about their presence. Even the police officers seemed to not notice them anymore… But the more Tsume thought about it, he could not remember the feds noticing them to begin with. Just as the thought crossed his mind, the first officer that had barged in barking orders caught sight of them. He could not be completely sure since he was wearing a protective mask, but the way he had frozen as his head turned towards them made him think that he had indeed seen them.

Still not turning his head away from them, he ordered his men to bring all the goons towards him so that they could all exit out the same way. They obeyed his orders blindly and began leaving the room. The man in charge then pointed at Tsume and Toboe before motioning towards the side door.

Tsume wondered why the man would be helping them. Any other person with common sense would have raised his gun at such a large wolf. But he was not complaining. He could now get out of there safely without having to go through the whole crowd. He gave a faint nod and headed out the door.

The officer brought his radio to his mouth with a faint smile.

"They're on their way," he said with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "We should have known that Tsume was going to snap if something happened to Toboe."

"In what condition are they, though?" another man asked worriedly.

"You can determine that yourself when you see them."

"Kiba…" the man sighed.

Kiba took his protective mask off before running a hand through his hair.

"Just let Blue know that they're on their way, alright?" No response. "Hige?"

"Yeah, yeah! I heard ya. Now get out of there before something bad happens."

"Is that an order?" Kiba crossed his arms, knowing full well that Hige couldn't see him.

"I have to give them every once and a while, don't I?"

And to that, Kiba scoffed.

* * *

Tsume glanced around the corner carefully to make sure that Dawn was not there. If Toboe had not been with Tsume, he would have thought that they were lost. This place was like a maze, but Tsume knew it inside and out. They could not exit out the main entrance, because that was where all the goons were being taken and he did not want to cause an even bigger commotion.

So Tsume opted for the backdoor. Clichéd, yes. And in any other case the officers would be there, waiting for them. But the backdoor for this structure was not even on the same side of the street, let alone the same building. It required him passing underground and then exiting out of the trunk of an abandoned car. There were very little chances that the feds would be waiting for them there.

Or so he had thought.

As he tried to push the inside of the trunk open, he heard a faint click from the other side and a feminine hand pulled the rusty piece of metal upwards. Blue eyes widened at the sight of them.

"I was hoping you'd come out this way," Blue smiled with a hint of shock.

"Then why do you seem so surprised to see us?" Tsume asked as he walked out of the car and he felt Toboe tighten his grip around his neck.

"I wasn't expecting you to be in a full wolf form. None of us have been able to transform completely, yet."

"None of us?"

Blue put her hand on Toboe's shoulder to help him up, but he shook his head, not wanting to let go of Tsume for a second. She gave a smile before standing and motioning Tsume to follow her inside of the ambulance that was behind her.

Tsume hesitated to follow her, but once he noticed that all the surrounding officers paid him no heed and instead nodded to Blue as she passed by, he followed suit. A paramedic tried to help Toboe off Tsume's back and onto a stretcher, seeming indifferent to the man's wolf state, but Toboe only held on tighter as he did mere seconds ago.

"Let him help you, Toboe," Tsume whispered.

"But, you…"

"I'm coming with you, don't worry. I'll be by your side the whole time."

Toboe seemed to relax at his words that were only heard by Blue and themselves. The medic was able to lay him into a lying position on the stretcher and put an oxygen mask on him before lifting him into the ambulance. Tsume and Blue followed in and they left as soon as the doors closed.

There was a moment of silence on the inside as the medic checked Toboe over. Blue watched from the side as Tsume laid his head beside Toboe's, putting his nose in the crook of his neck for comfort and Toboe turned his head to lay his cheek on the wolf. She smiled at the sight; they would have never acted like that before, especially Tsume. Once the man was done plugging Toboe in to all the equipment and explained that the boy would be fine with proper care, he left for the front and Blue spoke again.

"When I said none of us," she started. "I meant as in Kiba, Hige and myself."

Toboe's head rose slightly.

"You found Kiba and Hige?" he asked faintly.

"Yeah," Blue smiled as she patted his head. "I found them last year when I was recruiting interns for the department."

Tsume gave her an odd look, and then remembered the way the officers had been acting around her.

"You're a double agent," Tsume mumbled.

It was more of a statement than a question, but Blue nodded anyway.

"Yes, I am. I joined Dawn's gang first, but I was recruited later by the CIA as a double agent. I've been working on this case for about twenty years—this case being taking out Dawn," she answered to Tsume's silent question. "But since I've become the head of the department, I've been in charge of it for a little under five years, now."

Tsume's eyes widened.

"How young were you when she found you?"

"Really young. I've been following her for as long as I can remember…"

Tsume noticed the distant and sorrowful look in her eyes, but she shook it away quickly enough and she opened the doors when she felt the ambulance come to a stop. The paramedics came rushing in to get the stretcher out of the ambulance and doctors ran up to the boy before he was even in the hospital.

Tsume went to leap out of the ambulance, but he was stopped by a tanned hand shooting in front of his face.

"What are you doing?"

"You can't go out as a wolf, Tsume—and you won't be able to change back into a man until your anger is completely gone. In front of my men is one thing because they are aware of the circumstances, but the rest of the population will not understand."

"I told him I would be beside him the entire time," Tsume pleaded.

Blue almost gave in at the desperate eyes.

"He's asleep," she whispered as she motioned to the boy. "He won't even notice that you're gone."

Tsume's eyes fell on Toboe's sleeping frame. Other than the worry lines that creased at the corners of his lips and eyes, he looked completely at peace.

"Besides…" Blue closed the doors and gave a look to the medic that had stayed in the ambulance. He gave a nod and they were on the road again. "We'll be back before he wakes up."

"Where are we going?"

"Might I remind you that you have some unfinished business?"

A low growl came from Tsume's throat as he tried to calm himself.

Dawn, or rather Akatsuki, was dead meat.

* * *

Akatsuki swore under her breath as she tripped over her own feet, landing face first on the ground. Her claws fissured the floor beneath her as she clenched her hands into white-knuckled fists. The hairs on her arms and neck were standing up as she tried to calm herself.

How could Tsume have possibly been able to fully transform into a wolf? She was the one that had been able to morph the most out of all her men: claws, fangs, eyes and she even once managed to get as far as the tail and ears. But she had only been able to go so far once.

Her lips curled up as she snarled, her fangs staring to grow and digging into her lower lip. She would not accept it. Tsume was not allowed to defeat her again. She would not allow it. Tsume was not permitted to overpower her. She would not tolerate it. She would rip him apart limb by limb if she had to.

With that single idea in mind, she leapt to her feet and dashed to a specific exit door. It was way in the back of the abandoned factory, in the area where no one had ever gone before since it was not used. Only she knew of it. Surely, she would be able to escape through there and then hunt down Tsume.

There was only one problem though; as she grabbed threw herself at the door, her hands pushing on the bar to unlatch the lock, it did not budge. She pushed again, and again, and again, but it refused to move even the slightest inch. Of all of the times that she had used this escape route it had to fail her now. Akatsuki kicked the door in panic; it was her only way out safely, it was not allowed to be locked.

"Fuck!" she shouted as she lunged towards the door again, hoping that her beastly strength could get the hinges moving.

The police did not known of this area of the factory, but they would find it eventually and the door before her was the only way out. It was pointless to try going back because all of the other doors were blocked. Jumping out the windows was out of the question because; well… there were none in this section of the building.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Akatsuki growled in frustration as she kicked the door, giving it one last irritated shoved before turning to lean her back against it.

Akatsuki slid to the ground as she closed her eyes, frowning. The cops were the least of her worries right now, though. She was more concerned about Tsume. After he made sure that the boy was out of harm's way, there was no doubt in her mind that he would come hunt her down. And even though he most likely did not know of this section of the building either, he would have no trouble finding her with his senses enhanced thanks to his wolf form.

And by the time that she realized that he was there, it was already too late.

There was warmth that trickled down her neck and arm to pool underneath her. She felt light headed all of a sudden. The first thing that came into view as she opened her eyes was golden ones staring up at her from her neck. Then came the grey fur and the rest of the wolf`s body. There were a few specks of crimson specks in Tsume's coat. She figured that it was her own blood; it had most likely sprayed everywhere when Tsume's fangs punctured her carotid artery.

Tsume opened his mouth and let her fall limp to the ground. Her lips moved a few more times, trying to draw in air, before all life left her eyes.

"Good riddance," he mumbled with no emotion.

Tsume stood proud as he slowly altered back into a human, going from a crouch to a full standing position. He rubbed the back of his neck as he cracked it, getting rid of the kinks from the transformation.

"And here I thought there was going to be an epic battle between the two of you."

Tsume jumped as he turned to face Arashi.

"What are you doing here?" Tsume's eyes fell to his cousin's hands. "And what on Earth did you do?"

Arashi was holding three badly beaten up men in each hand and Tsume thought that he saw another one or two behind him. Arashi himself was in pretty bad shape, but it did not look like nothing a glass of premium scotch and a good night's sleep could not cure.

"We weren' gonna leave ya behind, dumbass. We're family!"

Arashi grinned at Tsume's reaction to the name.

"Well, we were plannin' on leavin', but our conscience wouldn' let us get outta town!"

"You and your big talk," Sora sighed as he walked into Tsume's view.

He too was dragging a few men behind him—not as many as Arashi though, because one of his hands was occupied by a backpack with unknown contents.

"Your conscience had nothing to do with it. You were being too fidgety while you were driving, so I had to force you to turn around. If I hadn't, we would have died in a car accident and that would have been counter-productive; seeing as we were trying to save ourselves and all."

Arashi pouted.

"Well, when ya say it like that I don' sound as cool."

"But it's the truth, so suck it up."

Arashi stuck his tongue out at his brother to which the latter smirked. Tsume smiled as well.

"Even though I forbad you from coming to _save me_, I'm glad you too are okay."

"No problem!" Arashi grinned.

"Well then," Sora interrupted as he threw the bag at Tsume. "Get dressed (Tsume had forgotten that he didn't have any clothes on) and go see Toboe. You wouldn't want him to wake up without there, now would you?"

Tsume nodded as he took the contents out of the bag: briefs, socks, shoes, a large short-sleeved shirt, baggy pants and an equally baggy hoodie—not his usual style, but it would have to do.

"We'll take care of the ones that're tryin' to escape," Arashi said as he lifted three men to empathize his point.

"What happens if you get caught? You can't be seen or you'll be put in jail!"

"Not a problem!" Arashi boomed with a wide grin. "We crossed Blue a few secon's ago an' she said we were free to do as we please!"

Sora rolled his eyes at his brother's over-enthusiasm before giving Tsume a look that said they had it under control. The man smiled.

"What would I do without you guys?"

* * *

Everything felt fuzzy, Toboe thought as he slowly returned to consciousness. He could barely feel anything, but what he could was all rainbows and gumdrops. Except there was this sudden headache that began to form behind his eyes, but as soon as he cringed it suddenly went away.

His eyes would only slightly open, but it was enough to see the nurse at his bedside putting something in the IVs that were plugged into him. Ah, drugs. Those were wonderful, he chuckled internally.

As he felt the liquid entering his arm, it gave him a sudden itch and his arm twitched involuntarily. He went to scratch himself, but something warm kept him from moving and when he turned his head to look at the source of the heat, a small smile creased his lips: Tsume was lying beside him both arms draped around him, one of his hands firmly gripped around Toboe's and his head resting inches away from his own face.

"I tried to tell him to not lie in the bed with you, seeing as there's practically no room and he's such a big man," the nurse suddenly said. "But he refused and insisted on being beside you and quite frankly, I was not able to force him to do otherwise."

"Why?" Toboe whispered.

"His eyes were so pleading," the nurse smiled as she remembered. "It melted my heart to see such a tough looking man show such emotion."

Toboe rubbed his fingers over Tsume's knuckles and his grip seemed to soften a bit.

"He has been like that for at least a whole day. No matter what we tried, we could not manage to get him to at least leave and eat something. He said something like he had been away from you for far too long and that he would not leave you until you woke."

"It's so like him," he smiled as he nestled into the man's warmth. "Such a stubborn guy."

"He must really love you," she stated as she left the room to leave the two alone.

"Yes, he must."

_But not more than I love him_, Toboe thought as he fell back into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

Toboe shifted uncomfortably in the bed as he felt six pairs of eyes on him. Blue stood leaning on the wall, her eyes wide. Kiba lost all expression, his mouth slightly agape and his face turning slightly green. Hige was trying to hide a chuckle, whether it be at what Toboe had just said or at Kiba's expression was a mystery. Arashi did not even somewhat try to contain his laughter and Sora elbowed him in the ribs, turning his face away as well to hide a faint smile gracing his lips. Tsume… well, he was half frozen and half amused.

"You did _what_?" Tsume asked, not believing what he just heard.

A faint blush crept over Toboe's cheeks as he lifted his chin in the air, trying to act indifferently to their reactions.

"Well, what would you guys have done in that situation?"

"I would have put Cheza under the seat or something," Blue said as she fought to keep from smiling. "I wouldn't have taken…. such drastic measures."

Toboe threw his arms in the air as he rolled his eyes. "Dawn had her men search the car inside and out. They would have found her eventually."

"Yes, but…" Hige chuckled. "You have to, well…"

"Like I said: what would you have done?"

Tsume grinned at the obvious annoyance in Toboe's tone, but decided it was best to not interfere. He would not admit it, but the main reason he did not want to distract Toboe from his rant was because he was too cute when he was angry.

"I don't know…" Blue answered for Hige. "But did you have to swallow her?"

Arashi and Sora exchanged a glance and doubled over with laughter. Blue turned around as her shoulders shook slightly, hiding her face in her hands. Hige leaned on the still frozen Kiba as he laughed as well. Kiba did not laugh at all, he felt like he was going to throw up. A smile graced Tsume's lips at both Kiba's and Toboe's expressions.

"It's not funny!" Toboe screamed. "I went through hell because of what I did, but it was still the best decision and I would do it again if I had to! Do you know why? Because instead of getting beaten to death, I was drugged. And I even though I remember everything," Toboe shivered at the thought. "At least I did not feel anything and it sure as hell didn't hurt like being beaten would have. And—"

Toboe was cut off by lips locking with his and when Tsume pulled back, he sank into his bed grumbling profanities at his friends. The man smiled at him.

When Dawn discovered Toboe in the car, after she had knocked Tsume out, she tried to get information about the flower out of him. But, thanks to Toboe's quick thinking, she was unable to get her hands on it. The boy did not even tell her he swallowed the Lunar Flower and Tsume was thankful that he hadn't… because he knew that he would have been cut open to retrieve the flower.

Toboe had told them earlier that Dawn had had the intention of beating the information out of him, but that she had decided otherwise at the last minute. She figured that Tsume was bound to know where it was and that torturing the boy would make him crack and tell her. They all knew that she had not expected him to fully transform.

"If I had been in your position," Tsume whispered to Toboe's ear as he sat beside him and the boy curled up beside him. "I would have done the same."

* * *

A loud shriek disrupted the silent air.

"God, this is cold!" Hige screamed.

"Quite being such a girl," Blue laughed when he shrieked again as she splashed him with the freezing water. "It's not that bad."

Hige had had the intention of pulling her in, but she beat him to it as she dove into the cold stream, not even flinching at the temperature. Kiba came out of nowhere from under the water right in front of Hige and the latter fell backwards into the falls.

From the side of their private river, Toboe and Sora both sat in their respective lover's laps. They laughed at their friends' banter about the icy stream and Tsume told Toboe stories of when Arashi and Sora would be the same when they were little.

It had been two years since everything that had happened. Unlike how the first year had been for them, they all felt at peace. All of them would have never imagined in their wildest dreams that they could allow themselves to be so carefree, not having to look over their shoulders at every waking moment.

When Cheza had… _exited_ from Toboe's bowels and been cleaned—and after Kiba made a trip to the bathroom, not wanting to be sick in front of everyone—, she had mysteriously transformed into her human-self overnight. Arashi had been the one to find her and saying that he had been shocked was an understatement. They had no idea how it had happened, but they were all thankful.

Toboe peered over Tsume's shoulder as he heard footsteps and his eyes brightened instantly.

"Cheza!' he exclaimed.

Kiba's head perked up and he was by her side before any of them could blink. Cheza wrapped her arms around Kiba's back as he kissed her.

"I can see your tail wagging," Tsume snickered smugly.

Kiba shot him a glance as a very faint blush crept over his cheeks and everyone chuckled. Laughter only erupted further when Hige let out another shriek of horror as cold water was thrown in his face by Arashi. When the teen had gotten all the way over to the river, none of them knew. Even Sora, who was just now getting up to join him seemed confused… and he had been sitting on him just a moment ago.

"Don't try to understand, Toboe," Tsume whispered in the brunet's ear. "He has ungodly speed."

The boy shivered as Tsume's breath ghosted over his skin and leaned into the man's warmth. Strong arms were soon wrapped around him and if he could have he would have purred. But he couldn't. He was a wolf. That would be absurd.

Cheza ran towards the river as she dragged Kiba behind her after quickly glancing towards Tsume and Toboe, deeming that the needed their privacy. Tsume silently thanked her as he ran his lips over the boy's neck. His fingers slid under his shirt and ran up his stomach, pulling a delightful moan from his lover.

"Tsume," Toboe whined. "Not here…" He gasped as he felt teeth slightly sink into his shoulder. "They'll see…"

"Let them," he replied without stopping his ministrations.

"Tsume…"

The man looked up, noticing no one was paying attention to them. He released Toboe from his hold and chuckled as he whimpered at the loss.

"You were the one who told me to stop," he mused.

"Just because I told you to doesn't mean that I _want_ you to stop," he grumbled. "I just don't want anyone to see…"

"I have a solution to that."

Toboe let out a surprised yelp as he was thrown over Tsume's shoulder. Everyone turned around at the sound and Tsume paused, an idea forming in the back of his mind. _He'll hate me for doing this… But it's so tempting…_

He could not believe he was going to say something so embarrassing. There was no real problem to him though; even if he did blush they would not be able to tell because of the distance and his tanned skin. Toboe on the other hand…

"I'd appreciate if you guys do not come to the top floor for the next hour or so. I'm going to make passionate love to Toboe."

They gapped at the declaration and Toboe's eyes grew wider than they had ever been, his whole body crimson in embarrassment.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO ANNOUNCE IT!" he screamed.

Arashi was the first to laugh, doubling over as pain took over his stomach. If Tsume didn't know better, he would have thought that even Kiba was blushing.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Toboe shrieked as his legs kicked and fists punched into Tsume's back.

"There, there," Tsume said as he pat the boys rear, earning him a low growl. "You won't be saying that in a few minutes."

"TSUME!"

The man turned on his heels as he walked towards the house, trying his best to hide the blush that was creeping over his own cheeks as Hige and Arashi whistled.

"... Just because of that, I'm going to use my teeth."

Tsume chuckled as a one single thought passed his mind.

Despite all the hell they'd been through, trying so desperately to find the paradise they were promised, he did not regret any of it. If they had not gone through all those hardships, they never would have found this small paradise. Although, Tsume had to admit that it really was one hell of a paradise.

* * *

**A/N.** I feel sad now that this is over… I'm not satisfied with the ending, but this is honestly the best I could get out of all the jumbled thoughts going through my head.

Even though I'm sad that this is over, I'm sort of relieved as well. It has taken FOREVER for me to finish it. And even though you may have thought sometimes that I gave up on this story, that's not true at all. I have never forgotten this story, but I have other things to do as well. Other stories and fanfics to write, other animes to watch, other mangas to read and I had to maintain whatever I have left of a social life as well as maintain my grades (and I have to admit that right now they're not looking too good…)

Anyway! I hope you've enjoyed this story nonetheless. I put all my heart into it and you guys have supported me all the way.

Thank you again, and until next time :)


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